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Koetsu surprise

I have to hand it to my wife.  Like many of us, I have always plotted and schemed my own system upgrades based on my interests and perceived best bang for the buck.  I have been concentrating on the analog front end for the past 4 years and have been listening to a lot more music.  I had been enjoying a Lyra Delos for its detail and upper register energy, a SoundSmith Zephyr Star for its amazing instrumental separation and full frequency balance and an Ortofon MC A90, that I purchased used of Agon.  Thought I was done with cartridges for a long time.
So when on the eve of our 20th wedding anniversary I received a little square box from her, I had no clue that she would gift me something for the stereo.  But there in front of me is a pretty little Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum!  
Its hard to describe the disbelief.  I had never considered a Koetsu.  My impression of them was that they were rolled off, romantic, old school cartridges that had been bettered long ago by the likes of Ortofon, Lyra and SoundSmith.  Never really read up on their cartridges given that their cheapest models were about as much as I would ever consider spending.  
Fast forward one month and I have put about 40 hours on the RSP.  From the first needle drop I was very impressed with the midrange presence and the utter ease and extension into the very highest frequencies. The bass did sound a little soft in the first several hours but has tightened up considerably.  It sounded its best loaded with 100 Ohms and mounted on my Mørch DP-6 with heavy brass headshell screws from SoundSmith.  I currently have it on my Jelco 750D with a Jelco Rosewood headshell.  
I don't think any of these arms are the best match but the RSP does sound quite special on all of them.  Just purchased a 40 year old Fidelity Research FR-64S.  Can't wait to listen to the RSP on this arm.  Any recommendations on the FR-64S/RSP combo are welcome.

This whole experience has taught me an interesting lesson about assumptions in our little hobby.  You just have to listen before you judge.  This is a quantum leap in musical enjoyment that would never have happened if left to my own devices. Anyone else have this type of experience?  First time you heard something that changed your mind about what you thought you knew about audio?

I married up!

128x128karl_desch
karl_desch's avatar
karl_desch OP
422 posts
 
I didn't think I would be the type of listener to appreciate a saturated sound but I hear the differences in instruments so much better.  For example, the different sound of Cannonball Adderl's sax compared to Coltrane. More information? More body for sure.  Other than my tuner, the system is all solid state Pass so maybe that is why the RSP is complementing everything so nicely.

I was going to try out the Jelco HR-30 Rosewood headshell with the Koetsu/FR-64S.  Lew, why not put your Urushi on the FR64S and report back!  I don't know of any Koetsu haters but I know a certain "distortion" hater who has no love for the lack of damping on the FR-64S.  Its actually reading his comments on it that convinced me I should try it.  


larryi
3,742 posts
 
My local dealer is a BIG Koetsu fan, particularly the wood and lacquer bodied versions.  He likes the top end Ortofon arms.  These are the arms with the square pivot assembly (e.g., AS-309S 12") that is available from Japan, but not commonly available in the US.
 
karl_desch's avatar
karl_desch OP
422 posts
 
On the Ortofon website they mention a special Japanese geometry which does not directly fit the Baerwald alignment.  Is this true of the FR-64? I seem to recall a thread about the FR-66/64 that mentioned an alternative mounting distance.  It was a dertonearm recommendation.
karl_desch's avatar
karl_desch OP
422 posts
 
Terry, I read a lot about the Trans-Fi arm and think it is brilliant. Interesting to know that it does well with low compliance cartridges. For whatever reason I have only used pivoted arms.  

I have an U/S cleaner, the cheaper one by CleanerVinyl.  Works great so far.  Makes a big difference on some of the used "VG+" records I buy.
larryi
3,742 posts
 
Karl,

Have you considered the Moerch DP-8?  I think that it is at least an interesting design.  The arm has weights on outriggers located right at the vertical pivot of the arm.  The weights substantially increase the horizontal effective mass of the arm, but, because they are located around the vertical pivot, they don't increase the vertical effective mass substantially.  What this is designed to do is to use the higher horizontal movement effective mass to resist movement of the arm from side to side in response to horizontal modulation of the groove. Very low bass is typically mastered in mono so that the groove motion is primarily side to side (if mastered as a stereo signal, the vertical depth change would be too much for the thickness of the record).  By the arm not moving in response to the bass modulation, the full measure of the bass is outputted by the cartridge.  By keeping the vertical effective mass reasonably low, the arm can still effectively handle warps. 

I have not heard the DP-8, but, those who have say the bass response is very strong with this arm.  It should be particularly effective with somewhat low compliance cartridges, like Koetsus.

While this purely speculation on my part, high effective horizontal mass of air bearing non-pivoting arms might also account for why they too have strong bass response.  I heard this with arms like the Mapenoll, Walker and Kuzma arms.
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