Copper, silver, or gold MC cartridge coils?

Dear @edgewear : Yes you are rigth because Lyra asked for the Parnassus sample to build the Olympos and yes too with the Koetsu that does not needs a donor cartridge.

Yes, different application sonic benefits.

R.

Dear @mijostyn : I think that the more expensive high output ( MM/MI ) cartridges are the ones coming from SoundSmith and PL never says he is using silver or gold wire in the coils but cooper.

No singler vintage HO MM/MI use silver wire in its coils. The rule is cooper as with LOMC ones too .

Some LOMC , maybe by marketing issue, use silver or gold wire but this is not " normal " and perhaps only a marketing hype to ask higher prices for it. Only the manufacturers can tell us the true behind their choosed coils wire types.
R.

I have a Koetsu Jade Platinum cartridge which sounds amazing.  I understand it is the wiring and not the magnet that is platinum.   It is utterly natural-sounding, clear and seductive - can transport you into places no other source has achieved for me. 

can somebody clarify if there are indeed cartridges wound with platinum coils?  Some of the Koetsu's have platinum cobalt magnets and VDH does make a platinum IC but I have yet to see confirmation of platinum wound MC coils.

Dear friends : In the long MM thread J.Carr touted a lot the Sony LOMC cartridges and especially the 55/88 top of the line and he did it because not the coils wire type but because its unique coils wiring shape:

""  The Figure 8 coil was meant to address to recurrent problems of moving-coil : low output, field-disturbing iron core, and increase of coil turns to increase output.

By giving one part of the armature a 90° twist, the two halves of the coil do not cancel each other out but produce voltage with both inward and outward movements.
No need to use a stronger iron core or increase the number of coil turns : linearity is improved, the cantilever isn't burdened by a heavier coil and output is doubled - simple. ""

So, exist several cartridge design characteristuics more imporant for the designers than the coil wire types that's important but with a different priority level in the cartridge designs. On Dynavector site you can read:

"""  At a glance, the XV-1 is different from all cartridges that have gone before. Its magnetic circuit comprises 8 small ALNICO magnets. The magnetic path is divided into two - In the magnetic gap, a specially designed magnetic flux equalizing piece is placed. On the front yokes, magnetic stabilizing coils are wound. By this special combination, the magnetic field becomes widely homogeneous and more linear than the conventional magnetic design that is common in existing MC cartridges. Currently the design trend of MC cartridges is to employ stronger and harder magnets. The XV-1 takes the opposite approach. This is the theoretical conclusion of Dynavector.  ""

Ortofon or Allaerts and other top manufacturers took special attention on several other cartridge design characteristics as with Ortophon is legendary Ortophase pattent.

Again and as @lewm  confirmed : ""  it is the overall design that counts far more. ""

R.