Koetsu Blue Lace Onyx vs. Coralstone

After waiting for 4 months I'm now a very happy owner of a Blue Lace Diamond Cantilever cartridge. Although just 40ish hours old & not near fully broken in, the Blue Lace is way better (& unfortunately more expensive) than any cartridge I owned previously, it simply blown the Ortofon A95 that it replaced away cleanly. The soundstage is huge and rock solid, speed and dynamic range both staggering. I was surprised how different it sounds compared to the wood-bodied Koetsu I had before, the Blue Lace is simply a very modern high end pick up, no excuse needed to be made for this little gem. But it was a bitch to mount given its short (& almost transparent) cantilever at the middle of the underbelly.  The local dealer informed me that basically all stone-bodied Koetsu have same construction, except for different body material obviously, but they do sound slightly different for some reason, Blue Lace being most lean and neutral, followed by Coralstone. For those who prefer a slight warmer presentation should go for Tiger Eye.

@nicknick 
Awesome! I went from an Ortofon Windfeld MC to an Onyx Platinum when I had my "oh, that's where the music's been hiding" moment. You went all out to a Blue Lace w/ diamond cantilever! Now I've got a Coralstone, but I'd love to get a diamond cantilever some day. Heard a lot of amazing feedback on that.

My dealer who has heard all Koetsu told me the only differences btw diamond & standard boron cantilever are marginally faster, better dynamic range & better bass definition. Guess you can always opt for diamond cantilever when your Coralstone need a re-tip in the future. I originally aimed for a standard Blue Lace but lost my mind when he demonstrated a diamond cantilever during audition, bastard!!  Mind you, koetsu are much less expensive outside USA so I paid nowhere near the published US retail price.

@nicknick
Awesome. And yep, I agree that the US prices are insane lol. Koetsu are actually a good deal in other places. I’ll definitely consider the diamond cantilever when it’s time for a rebuild in a couple years...or maybe much sooner on my Jade!

Enjoy your awesome cartridge!

@mulveling 

Sorry for the delay - installed my air-gap phono/pre, and now have a very good idea of preferred loading.

After the 1931Ag Lundahl's (set at 8 x step-up gain), I am loading the input between 2K and 3K (nude Vishay's), and 0 pF capacitance. This corresponds to a cartridge loading of 25R to 40R, according to the factory rep's website (K&K Audio).

That said, my room is a real bear, and it just eats up low frequency signal; an LF black hole, if you will. So, if I ever get the room tamed, or build a new one, I may well like a higher resistive loading.

That's the KRSP/dc, air bearing arm, air bearing TT.