Koetsu

[Johan K]

Though I can say you may change the adress on the Esoteric T1 to the middle south part of Sweden instead… it will be great in my room here.. I’m sure of it. And ofcourse you wouldn’t mind either, would you?
I think I greet the T1 with a nice hot smookie cup of coffee… and some nice buns for sure.

I nice thought, don’t you think?

/ Jk

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Sounds great. Seems like you have your hands full in the near future. My plan is to get a Miyajima Infinity here later this year. I had the Zero here last summer and was very happy with the mono sound. Now just 2-3 weeks ago I heard the Infinity at one of my dealers place. Loved the sound from it. Then I’m sure of another Koetsu for my SL-1200G, the 0.2mV Vermillion, that is a very good match together with my AirTight SUT… so that one is probably something for the late summer or so.

i love my 2 Infinity's. they are super for the investment too. however; if i was doing it again, i might choose the DaVa Ref mono instead of my pair. it's twice the Infinity price, and a long wait time.

Another thing for me that is on my list is the DS-Audio Ionizer… really need to get that one SOON.

i do appreciate mine.

Otherwise I’m quite happy for the moment.
I love the sound here, and did play for 12-13hours strait yesterday, before my wife pulled me out to the livingroom for a romantic late dinner with candles and wine and stuff, haha.
But early this morning I sneaked into the hifi-chamber again and has now spended like 12 more hours and me and my ears are not tired at all… that speak of a non fatigue sound. I have so much fun in here with all the gear and all the music… Great isn’t it !

/ Jk

always good to make points with the wife.

 

[Johan K]

Mike,

Have never heard the DaVa, but seen here on the WBF that it’s quite talked about. Hope I get to hear it some day. Nice to hear that you are satisfied with your DS-I

Yes an understandable wife in this hobby of ours is very important. And it is very important to be nice to someone that let me sit hours after hours listening to music. She’s truly amazing, and I bet it’s likevice at your place.

/ Jk

 

[XV-1]

my Esoteric T1 arrives tomorrow or Tuesday replacing my now gone Saskia. initially i will only have one arm board and tonearm, as the "T1" arm boards for the Tosca and FCL are still 45 days out. that one tone arm with be the Ikeda TA-9D. the Azule will be my initial cartridge for that. so maybe within 48 hours i will be able to enjoy the Azule.

not sure how long it will be there as i have another cartridge coming, and i might also rotate one of my Miyajima Infinity Mono's there down the road. my plan is to have these on head shells so the change over is easy for this arm.

i also have a 12" Durand Telos with a wood arm wand, which will go back on the NVS when the FCL moves to the T1. the Telos will have one of the Infinity's or maybe the Azule as i move forward. that's my plan. the other cartridges will stay on their current arms.

Hi Mike

I trust you are going to start a thread for the Esoteric T1 table. There are a lot of us interested in what seems to be a fresh approach on spinning vinyl.

cheers

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Hi Mike

I trust you are going to start a thread for the Esoteric T1 table. There are a lot of us interested in what seems to be a fresh approach on spinning vinyl.

cheers

yes. this turntable deserves it's own thread to really explore it. i'll start it later tonight as i assemble the T1.

 

[jadis]

Saw this posted the other day in another Koetsu users group. New model is called the Leopard Platinum. Very beautiful.

 

[108CY]

The rarest Koetsu made the one off Carnelian Stone Diamond Cantilever platinum coil, this is one of the fastest explosive of all the Koetsus with a real sence of timing with very grainless with texture and speed.

 

[UEM]

Here some views of my ONYX on a Audio Replas "silica glass" RHS-1 HR headshell, mounted on a SME 3012R tonearm on Thorens TD 520 Vintage TT.
"Vintage meets modern high class materials"

Regards
Urs

PS: Image4 shows a different cartridge, of course .....

 

[RickS]

Man, I always loved that era of Thorens tables.

 

[jadis]

The rarest Koetsu made the one off Carnelian Stone Diamond Cantilever platinum coil, this is one of the fastest explosive of all the Koetsus with a real sence of timing with very grainless with texture and speed. View attachment 107019View attachment 107018

We're now seeing a handful of one offs from this thread alone. I wonder how is the pricing of these one offs as there is no list price.

 

[108CY]

We're now seeing a handful of one offs from this thread alone. I wonder how is the pricing of these one offs as there is no list price.

All I will say is vastly more than the standard ones I have quite few one offs. Also I have some of the early bodies upgraded with diamond cantilever and pure platinum coils the Koetsus are my personal cartridges and nothing to do with my business. Not many would be prepared to pay the price difference for the custom versions.

 

[jsec]

I would be curious to know what are your experiences and even facts about rebuilding or retipping of Koetsu carts including pricing. I have been discussing the matter with a local dealer and the pricing information I received from them seems to totally different what I expected and what I have read from the WBF.

Here is the message I received from my dealer, prices have been exchanged to Euros.

"The information that I’ve got from Koetsu says that a complete refurbishment would cost 70% of the price of a new cartridge. You will essentially get the cartridge back fully restored where all worn parts will be replaced.

For example the rebuild of the Rosewood Signature Platinum would then be 5289€ (the new price 7600€) where I will happily cover the shipment costs etc. back and forth to Japan for you.

Let me know how you’d like to go forward with this - thank you!"

 

[bonzo75]

I would be curious to know what are your experiences and even facts about rebuilding or retipping of Koetsu carts including pricing. I have been discussing the matter with a local dealer and the pricing information I received from them seems to totally different what I expected and what I have read from the WBF.

Here is the message I received from my dealer, prices have been exchanged to Euros.

"The information that I’ve got from Koetsu says that a complete refurbishment would cost 70% of the price of a new cartridge. You will essentially get the cartridge back fully restored where all worn parts will be replaced.

For example the rebuild of the Rosewood Signature Platinum would then be 5289€ (the new price 7600€) where I will happily cover the shipment costs etc. back and forth to Japan for you.

Let me know how you’d like to go forward with this - thank you!"

also keep in mind 70% is greater than 100% given the street price of most high end carts. Not just used but the discounts that unused ones sell at

 

[Johan K]

Totally crazy!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I would be curious to know what are your experiences and even facts about rebuilding or retipping of Koetsu carts including pricing. I have been discussing the matter with a local dealer and the pricing information I received from them seems to totally different what I expected and what I have read from the WBF.

Here is the message I received from my dealer, prices have been exchanged to Euros.

"The information that I’ve got from Koetsu says that a complete refurbishment would cost 70% of the price of a new cartridge. You will essentially get the cartridge back fully restored where all worn parts will be replaced.

For example the rebuild of the Rosewood Signature Platinum would then be 5289€ (the new price 7600€) where I will happily cover the shipment costs etc. back and forth to Japan for you.

Let me know how you’d like to go forward with this - thank you!"

it's possible, maybe even likely, that your dealer has the same margin in the rebuild relative to the list price, that he had in the new product. and so can offer you a 'deal' to make it workable.

i cannot see any other logical way to make sense of it.

so with a list price of 7600 euros, with 40 points, the dealer cost = 4560 euros. maybe you paid around 6000 euros for new.

the rebuild has a list price of 5289 euros, with 40 points, his cost is 3173 euros, your similar discount might be 4000 euros for rebuild or in that area.

at least try to see if that works. and whether 4000-4300 euros for a functionally new cart represents value to you. it's fair that the dealer should be compensated for selling another cartridge. they don't last forever and are not intended to do that.

 

[jsec]

@Mike Lavigne you are right, but the price for rebuild is an offer not a list price, the new cart price is of course something that differs from the actual selling price. I'm confused about the pricing, and dealer's claim that Koetsu sets the price for rebuild to 70% does not seem right.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

@Mike Lavigne you are right, but the price for rebuild is an offer not a list price, the new cart price is of course something that differs from the actual selling price. I'm confused about the pricing, and dealer's claim that Koetsu sets the price for rebuild to 70% does not seem right.

i'm not a dealer, so i'm just guessing. but there has to be a dealer margin in the rebuild, or they would never do any. and that dealer cost has to be less than new.

beyond that is only speculation. if you have to pay more than 60% of original list for rebuild then shop around and buy new. that should be your drop dead price.

 

[jadis]

Here is just one example of a dealer's pricing for new against its rebuild cost. This one is not 70%. It all depends on the worldwide dealers of Koetsu. More mystique about its pricing everywhere including eBay where there are lots of different sellers from Japan and a lot of one offs available to some dealers and not to others.

 

[108CY]

I have not had lots of Koetsus rebuilt, I last blue lace I had rebuilt cost the customer £3950 aginst £8500 for a new one.

 

[bonzo75]

@Mike Lavigne you are right, but the price for rebuild is an offer not a list price, the new cart price is of course something that differs from the actual selling price. I'm confused about the pricing, and dealer's claim that Koetsu sets the price for rebuild to 70% does not seem right.

don’t go for it there are many better carts with lower list price and retip price. Just read up some other thread instead of koetsu thread