Being a circa 1983 cartridge I would bet the suspension has seen better days. I’ll take a look and see if I can’t squeeze a few more good plays out of it by adjusting the zenith if necessary and playing with the anti skating as you suggest. The cantilever certainly hasn’t bent.
Koetsu
- Thread starter jadis
- Start date
Judas Priest said that ”-Hell Bent For Leather”!!
Took the whole arm off to try and get pics with my Canon. IDK, stylus looks ok? When I reinstalled I realized that I may have not had the arm directly centered on the pivot point from the other day when I was experimenting with an added weight to the VPI counterweight from a Soundsmith Counter Intuitive I’d gotten. After the pictures were taken I re installed the arm and checked all the parameters and now it sings again. No more barking at the upper extremes.
You cannot tell ANYTHING about stylus wear from this level of magnification & resolution, or even a few times more. If the stylus were fractured you could see that, but it's far more likely to go completely missing. If it's filthy, you can see that too (yours is clean - nice!). Without specialized equipment and experience (to know what to look for), your EARS are by far the best tool at your disposal! And yes, it's always good to periodically re-check alignment & setup parameters. If you hear mis-tracking, I would check alignment, VTF (going a bit higher sometimes helps) and anti-skate (don't use too much!). If you need to sanity check, a Koetsu should track well at 2.2g (a bit higher than spec) and 0 anti-skate -- if it doesn't then something is wrong.
I'm glad you were able to find improvement! Enjoy your beautiful Koetsu now.
Blue Lace on a Acoustic Signature TA2000 Neo 12" tonearm.
Pardon the poor video quality, but people tell me the sound is quite good. 
Blue Lace on a Linn turntable and tonearm.
Blue Lace on a Linn turntable and tonearm.
A friend from down south sent me these photos of his Leopard Platinum Diamond. What a beautiful sight to behold.
Very interesting! I like the leopard more now with a good closeup pic. Previously we'd only seen tiny pics. That earlier Carnelian, though
bringing the Koetsu Azule back into the mix tonight.
for the last few months i've been really enjoying 4 of my Stereo MC's and often switching each side from the two Etsuro Golds, the DaVa and the Audio Technica. each one has been a joy.
i had taken the Azule off the Ikeda arm when i sold it and it was on the shelf. but i was not really listening to my Mono's much and really wanted to get the Azule back into the rotation; so tonight i removed the Miyajima Infinity 0.7 mil and installed the Koetsu Azule on the 12" Durand Telos wood arm wand on the NVS using the dart phono. first impressions......it's lovely. seems very happy in it's new spot. i expect it to holds it's own in this heady company. and likely the Ikeda was holding it back some.
now 5 MC's to rotate through.
for the last few months i've been really enjoying 4 of my Stereo MC's and often switching each side from the two Etsuro Golds, the DaVa and the Audio Technica. each one has been a joy.
i had taken the Azule off the Ikeda arm when i sold it and it was on the shelf. but i was not really listening to my Mono's much and really wanted to get the Azule back into the rotation; so tonight i removed the Miyajima Infinity 0.7 mil and installed the Koetsu Azule on the 12" Durand Telos wood arm wand on the NVS using the dart phono. first impressions......it's lovely. seems very happy in it's new spot. i expect it to holds it's own in this heady company. and likely the Ikeda was holding it back some.
now 5 MC's to rotate through.
Last edited:
A friend mounted his Blue Lace onto SAT CF1 tonearm and said it sounds seductive.
Hello Mike,
May I ask how the Azule/NVS/Telos compares with your Etsuro Gold combinations in terms of transparency and micro dynamics? I fully appreciate that turntable and arm etc are different as well so it really is one combo vs another? Would appreciate any thoughts you could share. Many thanks
Anybody here stumble across this info?
electravolt.blogspot.com
And, any experience re: Urushi Mk1?
ElectraVolt
audio, tube, horn loudspeaker, high efficiency, loudspeaker, turntables, vinyl, field coil,
electravolt.blogspot.com
And, any experience re: Urushi Mk1?
I owned the Urushi MKI a very long time ago and absolutely loved it. Loved the natural timbres etc etc. Used it with SME V first and later with Roksan Artemiz arm with Transparent Ref phono cable and CAT preamp with phono stage. Martin Colloms reviewed the later versions for HiFi Critic and you can probably buy those as back issues. When my Urushi sadly died I decided to replace it with VdH Frog Gold custom built for me by VdH which was great but couldn't match the Urushi's timbres. I also had a Benz Ruby and I preferred the Urushi to that as well. Happy shopping.Anybody here stumble across this info?
ElectraVolt
audio, tube, horn loudspeaker, high efficiency, loudspeaker, turntables, vinyl, field coil,
And, any experience re: Urushi Mk1?
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |