Second Cartridge With Transfiguration Phoenix

İmho entry level koetsu cartridges like black etc is not what really koetsu. Again imho after rosewood signature you start feel koetsu really, sweet spot rosewood signature platinium. Coral stone is the top of the line which i am going to experiment, one of my friend thinking to sell his.

Great to hear Altan, please let us know how your experiment goes.

Have a nice listening,

Hakan

Also you did no ask but Zyx Universe ii is a better cartridge then proteus. If you buy just one cartridge in neutral camp, imho Zyx is the best way to go.

I have been living with a Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum with diamond cantilever, for six months now. Wonderful.

I was a little apprehensive after hearing and reading that the diamond cantilever "destroyed the Koetsu magic", so I was primed to hear excess brightness. Well, if you don't hear excess brightness on Bach's violin concertos, or Barber's adagio for strings, you won't hear it elsewhere. Especially when electrostatic speakers are your reference.

What the diamond does is eliminate a source of resonance, because the cantilever and stylus are ground from one piece of solid diamond. The sound is uniquely clear and transparent. In my opinion.

Dear Number95: I have first hand experiences ( in my system. ) with almost all the cartridges you named here and named by the other gentlemans but the Universe 2 ( I herad other Universe and ZYX models. ), Azule Platinum and the Terry9 Koetsu ( mine is Platinum too but I think has not the diamond cantilever. ).

I think that all cartridges named here are in many ways top performers, no one of those cartridges is perfect all has trade-offs and in all cases its quality performance depends mainly on the other links that surround it in the system chain especially tonearm and phonolinepreamp.

I own the Phoenix and in the past I owned two Temper's and I heard the Orpheus ( I forgot, I never heard the Proteus. ) and I understand what you mean on what you like:

++++ " My listening preferences are neutral, organic sound with a deep and wide soundstage, I do not prefer a specific bandwith dominating the test, I like details without sacrificing musicality ... " +++++

well, neutral ( between other things ) means that has a well balanced tone and that the musicality or not as that wide soundstage ( that depends of system/room interactions. ) and that " organic " sound depends not of the neutral cartridge but what is in the recording and how accurate is that neutral cartridge.

The Phoenix is very good performer and maybe better that what you experienced in non-unipivots tonearms. I'm not saying that in an unipivot tonearm it performs wrong ( because not ) but that in other tonearm type performs a little better.

The Ortofon PW is really good and with very good tracking abilities that almost all the other names here has not and this sole characteristics makes a difference for the better ( lower distortions elsewhere and more music information. ) especially in an unipivot tonearm design. Lower compliance cartridges put to high demands at the pivot where " all " is concentrated at one point and tend to vibrate in excess against non-unipivot tonearms that tame in better way those low compliance cartridge ridding effects and its feedback that degrade the cartridge signal.

Graham is a very good tonearm and the cartridge you will select for will performs good but IMHO the subject could be: which will perform best in the Phantom II because seems to me that you already decided? ( btw, did you think in a diffrent tonearm option just to mix.? ). My advise is that everything the same try to look for the cartridge with better tracking abilities, you can ask your dealer or trough the cartridges site.

Example: http://www.ortofon.com/products/cartridges/moving-coil/mc-windfeld/mc-windfeld-technical-specifications-

here you can read that 100um figure on traking ability, this is what you need to look for. Believe me that parameter makes a difference for the better or worse.

At the end this is only an opinion but what really matters is your opinion because you will be the person that must leave with the cartridge you decided for.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.