Miyajima MADAKE experience

@ilikmangos i’m curious which "the best of the best" cartridges do you mean, can you recall some of them? It will help to understand how good is the Miyajima Madake. 

The Dynavector XV-1s, which was my reference cartridge for a while,  the XV-1t, the Koetsu Signature Rosewood Platinum, Linn Akiva, and Kandid,  SME A95, Benz Ebony LP, Miyajima Shilabe. 

  I do not know the Kansui.

So,  not that many cartridges,  a somewhat modest list, but the Madake really impressed me. 

I injured myself yesterday, and am heading in to surgery later this morning, so,   I am bowing out of this thread for now.   

 If you have a chance to listen to a Madake,   I hope you enjoy it.  It is a really nice cartridge.

Interesting thread. My initial experience borrowing the Waza (good but not quite all it could be, clearly an early design) led me to buy a Shilabe, then a couple of years later, a Kansui.

The Kansui is superb. I've owned some pretty high-end cartridges including the Audio Note Io2 and Koetsu Rosewood Signature, and the Kansui for me came out on top by quite a margin. Indeed I sold the Io2 (and the Kondo S6 SUT I used with it) when I bought the Kansui, which I use with Hashimoto HM7s - far more organic and musical. (The Io is great in many ways too, but a bit more hifi).

One thing to note is that like the Shilabe, the Kansui likes a heavy tonearm - in theory it's more compliant, but only a shade. I'm having great results with the Ikeda arm and also with an Ortofon RMG Limited (a very well appointed top spec version of the Japanese reissue of the vintage RMG). Had good results too with my previous Fidelity Research FR64S.

I'd love to hear the Madake but I'm a bit skeptical of the back story - I'm in no rush to trade in the Kansui.

It shares a stable with quite a few other cartridge including two from Miyajima  - Zero 0.7 tip and Premium 78 mono - an SPU GM Mono MkII for early mono, an Ortofon SPU Royal, and an Ikeda 9TT.

All have their moment but I'd put the cheaper Kansui above the 9TT even in the Ikeda arm and headshell.

@montesquieu thanks for your story, i believe it was your post on theartofsound. Have you ever tried FR-7fz? And what was your source to buy hashinoto sut? 

Sorry only just seen this post.

My Hashimotos came from Mr Isao Asakura, a Japanese long based in the USA and who trades on the site tube-amps.net - they were delivered to me in Japan on a holiday visit, to a beautiful onsen in Kyoto prefecture.  (I travelled from Taiwan where I was on an extended trip for a month or so).

Though the HM-7s are somewhat redundant following purchase of an EAR 912 phono preamp which has a truly stunning complement of phono step-ups. (Same values, but not, I suspect, same transformers as the EAR MC4 step-ups - I think the quality is far higher, this is Mr de Paravacini's vinyl statement and I think he has gone as high as he practically can on quality).

I have tried FR1 Mk 1, 2 and 3, but not FR7 ... I was offered an FR-702 recently but a re-tip, too expensive for the relative risk (non-factory re-tips are very hit-and-miss in my experience). So I passed on this.

As it happens only tonight I agreed to buy a Madake ... so I am eagerly awaiting it. I will report back.