Thank You Fumihiko Sugano and Koetsu

Of course a $2,000 Koetsu Blue Lace beater would be nice, but if it were something easy to do, it would have already happened.  I have heard quite a few nice sounding cartridges, and some sounded better to me in certain respects, but nothing sounded like a Koetsu that I preferred.  There are other warm and relaxed sounding cartridges, like Koetsus, but they tend to lack the clarity of the top end koetsus.  

Mulveling,

That is an excellent description of the Koetsu sound and why they are adored.  I don't own one, but, a lot of people I know do have them and I am quite familiar with the sound and I like them a lot.  I own quite different cartridges--a Lyra Titan and a Transfiguration Orpheus L--but I sort of wish I had invested in a Koetsu.  Cartridges with a similar sound as a Koetsu are also not cheap, such as the Allaerte cartridges.  

I don't play as much vinyl these days as I did in the past, so I am not likely to be replacing any cartridge in the near future.  If I did have to buy another, it might be a Koetsu, although my Vector tonearm is probably not ideal (not enough mass), and I have heard another cartridge that I like very much--the Audio Technica ART-1000--a leaner but very lively cartridge.

Wow!  That is not what my dealer heard.  He said he continues to order cartridges and has no problem, so far, with supply.  It could be sales from stock, in which case he should bite the bullet and order more.  There are not that many comparable sounding cartridges. 

i don't know what sounds like the Koetsu--perhaps an SPU Ortofon or an Allaerts.  The Allaerts that I liked was crazy expensive, even by Koetsu standards and it was extremely delicate and fussy (the distributor insisted on a very precise loading value that was not a common value).