Koetsu cartridges - myth or reality?


Hi guys - I am looking to upgrade my 1 year old Dynavector xx1 MC cartridge - I have heard (and read) for many years that Koetsu cartridges are a great option for those looking for musicality, right timbre and lush-sounding analog.

Digging further I find that some cathegorize them as slow sounding, not great tracking and poor price/performance ratio as well... I am looking for advise from those who have experience with Koetsu - particulary those who moved from a fast sounding cartrdige like Dyna, Clearaudio or Lyra - missing anything once you moved?

Thanks

Fernando
128x128flg2001
Genesis and others who recommended Dynavector 507 with Koetsu: The Koetsus are relatively low compliance cartridges. The DV507 is said to be a "high mass" tonearm, but just looking at its unusual design, it would seem to have low mass in the vertical plane and high mass only in the lateral plane. Therefore why would it be a good match for a Koetsu? Further, a DV507 owner has advised me that the arm is NOT a good match for Koetsu in his experience. Unless the distal end of the tonearm that moves in the vertical plane is a lot "mass"-ier than it looks, I don't get it.
Well, it seems as if we know which arms do not mate well
with the Stone Koetsu's. It is rather unusual that there
are not many unanimous opinions as to which tonearms do.
This is likely my next step, now that I have my Vac amp
in and sounding so good. If I stay with my Basis 2500, I
would likely replace my Vector 3 with a Phantom. It will
take some time, as I must recup from the amp purchase and
the Grahams take a while to get. I have the Jade Platinum,
which I may have mentioned earlier in this post.


On of the features that I was looking for in a tonearm is that it must be compatible with most cartridges in the market today. I just didn't want to get caught up with a tonearm that couldn't handle a light-weight or a heavy-weight cartridge, should I decide to get one of these in the future.

Dynavector makes the following cartridges:

DV-10X5:   6.6 grams
20x H/L: 8.6 grams
17D3: 5.3 grams
XX2 MK11: 8.9 grams
Te KAITORA RUA: 9.8 grams
XV1-S: 12.6 grams

As you can see, their cartridge weight goes from 6.6 grams to 12.6 grams. According to the specs, optimum cartridge wight for the 507 MK II is from15 to 35 grams, including headshell. The headshell weights 15.4 grams. That means you can use it with a cartridge that weights nothing to one that weights 19.6 grams. This is possible by using one of the three weights supplied with the tonearm. Each weight is optimized for a particular weight range.

Since the headshell is detachable and uses as 4-pin standard connection, the 507 is compatible with any standard headshell in the market today. I can purchase extra headshells, mount a cartridge and forget about it. I can simply swap a cartridge in less than a minute because I only need to make sure that the appropriate weight is attached to the tonearm.

It also helped decide on the 507 the fact that the same company that makes these cartridges also makes a top-notch tonearm. I think one thing they needed to get right is that the 507 worked well with their cartridges.

I don't want to imply that the 507 for sure mates well with Koetsus, but I'll be highly surprised if it doesn't

Below are two links to reviews of the 507 MK II with more technical information about it.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/dynavector507_e.html

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/1205/dynavector507mkii.htm

Regards,

iSanchez

Isanchez...superb post.I'll re-read those reviews to refresh my memory,having read the TNT review awhile ago.Fun to revisit quality products like this arm.

BTW,I had a friend who ran a Koetsu Onyx on an early version 507,and he had little to complain about.The speakers were the huge Beveridge designs,so the possibility of some "sweetening" of sound may have been at play,but it sure was interesting to listen to!
Best.

Best.


Sirspeedy, thanks for your kind comments. I did find those reviews very instructive when I first read them. I really believe that this tonearm can pretty much handle anything. It is a pleasure to set up and a bigger pleasure to listen to it knowing that it'll extract the most out of the record.

Regards,

iSanchez