Koetsu

[jadis]

I recently installed this on a good friend's SME 20 and 5 tonearm. This Urushi model is vintage 2005 and is not found on the price list of Koetsu now. It was simply called Urushi Gold.
This has been recently rebuilt by Koetsu Japan. Exuberant cleaning lady ripped of the cantilever without even knowing it.




Today, this gold variant is called the Wajima, with some colored speckles.

 

[RickS]

Untitled by Rick S., on FlickrMacro stylus shots from Canon SLR circa 1984 Koetsu Black today.
Untitled by Rick S., on Flickr

 

[jadis]

Found an 80s dealer's catalog in my files, of the Koetsu models, with some writeups (very rarely seen these days) of each model at that time.

 

[jadis]

When I got my first Koetsu, the Black, in 1990, I chanced upon a review of the Urushi on Hifi News and Record Review by Ken Kessler. I kept the 2 pages in my files and just found out it's still in the archives of the magazine on the net. Pretty cool.

This Koetsu's for keeps...

Koetsu enters the 1990s with a new standard-bearer in the shape of the hand-made Urushi moving-coil cartridge. Ken Kessler is smitten... As I sat back and listened I thought, maybe it's the particular recording, perhaps it's my frame of mind but no – it can only be the cartridge. All I know is...

www.hifinews.com

 

[jadis]

Interesting quote from the review, pertaining to the topic discussed earlier here - setup and installation.

" As mentioned before, the body shape makes alignment an easy task, and the cartridge tracks beautifully with the top of the body absolutely parallel to the LP. A tracking force of 1.8g was ideal in my system, set only by ear as Koetsu handles the owner's manual problem in the simplest way of all: none is provided."

 

[RickS]

Got this from a forum member on another site. Apparently at one time Koetsu did have some guides as far as tracking force etc.

 

[RickS]

Koetsu EMC-1 B cartridge. Predates the Black Goldline.

 

[jadis]

Koetsu EMC-1 B cartridge. Predates the Black Goldline.
View attachment 99087View attachment 99088

This was my first Koetsu, used it for 8 years. Started at 1.8g and ended at 2.0g

 

[jadis]

Here it is, on an Eminent Technology ET2 tonearm.

 

[gian60]

My Koetsu rosewood in 1985
With Goldmund Studio and Zeta arm

 

[DasguteOhr]

And this, at first glance seems to be an epitome of Onyx stone beauty, upon closer look is a visual and emotional downer for a cartridge lover - broken/missing cantilever and stylus. The rubber support of the suspension appears deformed as well, probably due to heat. This was brought over for a rebuild quote many years ago.

View attachment 37265

the beauty has to run again, here I give my hopeless cases here. just send it there an appraisal costs 30 € and they will tell you if it can be saved.

Tonabnehmerservice.de | Retipping of MM and MC cartridges | B & O MMC Cartridges Restoration, Service and Advice, Buying and Selling

Retipping of MM and MC cartridges. Tonabnehmerservice.de

www.tonabnehmerservice.de

 

[godofwealth]

I use a Koetsu Blue Lace Agate Platinum with my SME 20/12 turntable, mounted on an SME V12 arm. After years of suffering through Lyra etc. cartridges and their hyper elevated piercing treble, I’m entirely satisfied with the sound of Koetsu. One key reason is that unlike every other cartridge manufacturer, Koetsu’’s roll off the treble. This is a beautiful decision, because it’s in the high treble that moving coil cartridges have their highest distortion, usually around 10%-20%. Check out this review in Hi Fi News, one if the very few magazines that actually measures the response curves of cartridges. Every Koetsu has a similar profile of a rolled off treble. I like this sound. It’s what I prefer as opposed to the hyper elevated treble of Lyra, van den Hul, and Ortofon who have nasty treble peaks, making the distortion much worse.

Koetsu Urushi Vermillion Cartridge Lab Report

Lab Report A schism is widening in the world of pick-up design. On the one hand there are brands pushing at the edge of suspension design, generator efficiency, low tip and moving mass, while employing sophisticated yokes and body materials. Recent examples include the Ortofon MC Anna Diamond...

www.hifinews.com

Compare this response to the elevated treble of the Lyra Etna. Lots of people like this hyper brilliant sound, possible because they like hyper bright metallic tweeters. I don’t. It makes me run out the room with my ears closed.

Lyra Etna SL cartridge Lab Report

This 'naked' but rigidly-constructed cartridge offers just about the best combination of extended response, low distortion, generator uniformity and trackability that I've measured in years, if not decades. Its 285µV output (re. 1kHz at 5cm/sec into 50-200ohm) is on target and the stereo...

www.hifinews.com

 

[jadis]

I use a Koetsu Blue Lace Agate Platinum with my SME 20/12 turntable, mounted on an SME V12 arm. After years of suffering through Lyra etc. cartridges and their hyper elevated piercing treble, I’m entirely satisfied with the sound of Koetsu. One key reason is that unlike every other cartridge manufacturer, Koetsu’’s roll off the treble. This is a beautiful decision, because it’s in the high treble that moving coil cartridges have their highest distortion, usually around 10%-20%. Check out this review in Hi Fi News, one if the very few magazines that actually measures the response curves of cartridges. Every Koetsu has a similar profile of a rolled off treble. I like this sound. It’s what I prefer as opposed to the hyper elevated treble of Lyra, van den Hul, and Ortofon who have nasty treble peaks, making the distortion much worse.

Koetsu Urushi Vermillion Cartridge Lab Report

Lab Report A schism is widening in the world of pick-up design. On the one hand there are brands pushing at the edge of suspension design, generator efficiency, low tip and moving mass, while employing sophisticated yokes and body materials. Recent examples include the Ortofon MC Anna Diamond...

www.hifinews.com

Compare this response to the elevated treble of the Lyra Etna. Lots of people like this hyper brilliant sound, possible because they like hyper bright metallic tweeters. I don’t. It makes me run out the room with my ears closed.

Lyra Etna SL cartridge Lab Report

This 'naked' but rigidly-constructed cartridge offers just about the best combination of extended response, low distortion, generator uniformity and trackability that I've measured in years, if not decades. Its 285µV output (re. 1kHz at 5cm/sec into 50-200ohm) is on target and the stereo...

www.hifinews.com

Agree with your findings. When I was new in the analog scene, I was driven out of the room by my first MC, the Audio Technica 312. It was very nice at first, with lots of details and clarity but its brightness got into me. Then I had a Grado 8MR, didn't last long either. Then the Monster Alpha2, which had the same fatiguing character as the AT although had a lot of good traits here and there. Went to the Benz Carnegie 1 and it was kind of dull. Enter the Lyra modified Koetsu (nude and looked like the Lyras) and found it lean and lacking in musicality. Till I got a Black and it lasted me 8 years , which was replaced by a Rosewood Signature that lasted another 12 years. I never looked for another brand of cartridge after the Black. Some critics say the Koetsus roll off the highs and have bloated bass. Well, that didn't make me run out of the room.

 

[RickS]

Same sentiment here. Once I heard my Black properly, I just knew lol. The overall tone picture matched everything I thought it should be with the least mechanical sounds of playback possible. There was no spotlighting of highs, nothing harsh or fatigue inducing. The quality and quantity of bass registers is snappy enough when called for, thumps along tunefully in every instance and if that’s a Koetsu’s main weakness, then it doesn’t have any.

 

[jadis]

Tiger Eye of a friend installed on 2 different arms - a Dynavector DV507 MKII tonearm and a Koetsu SA1100D Mk VI.

 

[godofwealth]

I have a Koetsu Black installed on a Garrard 301. Got it from eBay from a seller for $500. He though the cartridge was broken because “it had no highs”. Folks are so used to hyper brilliant cartridges that they forget what real music sounds like. The Black sounds perfect to my ears. Granted, it doesn’t have that extra special sound that the stone-bodied Koetsu’s with platinum magnets achieve, but for the price, it was a steal.

 

[jadis]

Visited a good friend with a Coralstone Diamond on an Acoustic Signature TA7000 tonearm. Lovely.

 

[jadis]

A friend's recently acquired Rosewood Signature on an Avid Sequel and SME 309 tonearm.

 

[Birdwatcher]

Could someone tell the dífferences between the Azule, Tigereye and Bluelace stonebody cartridges? I would like to use one of them in a 12“ Acoustical systems Axiom or maybe one day in a Kuzma SAFIR tonearm in a Zanden system.
Where are the strengths, what are the characteristics of the three? Maybe in comparison to Miyabi Fuuga and AirTight Opus one?

 

[jadis]

An old Tiger Eye had its bottom plate slightly peeled open due to the corrosion caused by liquid stylus cleaner. Dust had really messed up the innards and finally the rebuilt was commissioned and done by Koetsu Japan. Only the stone body remained after the rebuilt.





Good as new: