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Allnic Puritas vs. Koetsu Stone Body

Last time I had an opportunity to compare side by side Koetsu Jade and Koetsu Jade with diamond cantilever.
I must admit that DC Koetsu was simply amazing. Compared with stock Jade it was like completly different cartridge. Much better on frequency extremes, more airy, more precise, better articulation.
After auditioning Jade DC stock Jade sounded not very interesting.

I am considering Koetsu stone body with DC to my system, but think rather about Coralstone DC.
Unfortunately Koetsu cartridges have some flaws.
They do not give the best sound money can buy,
Are overpriced,
Hard to find good match with heavy mass tonearm.

For the Coralstone I was thinking about Origin Live 12" Enterprise C tonearm 22g effective mass.

As an alternative I was thinking about Allnic Puritas cartridge paired with new 12" Reed 3P tonearm.
I know that this is different price poin compared to top of the line Koetsu, but Allnic have some unique features and seems to have some sonic advantages of Koetsu sound.

Table is TW Acustic Raven AC.

Could you kindly share your impresions about above mentioned sets and let me know some advices?
milimetr
lotus340r
32 posts
 
You might want to have a chat with David at Hammertone Audio who has tried the puritas in many many different arms. I would personally not choose a Reed and i am pretty sure David's best result (which is quite something i gather) is with the Kuzma 4 point. It's worth getting the right arm as the Puritas is a pretty amazing cart. The 12" Schick and custom heavy mass Audio Origami would be other viable options. Happy hunting !
milimetr OP
141 posts
 
Thanks Lotus for your input.
You would not match Allnic with Reed but it seems that you have such a setup. Does it not work properly?
lewm
13,356 posts
 
All I can say is I heard the Allnic Puritas in a 12-inch Reed on Vetterone's The Beat direct-drive turntable, far into the late evening at the RMAF two years ago. We were comparing it to the SoundSmith Sussuro, riding in a second Reed tonearm. The sound quality was very high in both cases. I am sure Hammertone is a fine company, but they are in business to sell what they sell. Do you think their lack of enthusiasm for the Reed could have anything to do with whether or not they are dealers? (I do.)
lotus340r
32 posts
 
I don't think Hammertone are in the business of selling tonearms so they have no vested interest. David is just passionate about showing the Puritas in the best possible light. Yes, it can work in the Reed but some people report problems with sibilance. Regardless, there are better arms for it as David's painstaking research has shown. In point of fact I actually sell Reed here in the UK but i am just trying to pass on the correct information to help out.
lewm
13,356 posts
 
All good points. I am sure David has done much more work on this subject than I.

I would only comment that the etiology of "sibilance" is one of the most vexing among problems that occur in vinyl audio reproduction. (Meaning, there are many causes.) One of the last elements in the equation that I would indict is the tonearm, per se. VTA, VTF, azimuth adjustment, the cartridge, the LP, the phono stage, all would come ahead of some intrinsic deficiency of the tonearm design as a cause of sibilance, so long as we limit the discussion to really well designed and well built ones.
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