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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
larryi
4,098 posts
 
All Koetsu owners,

By implication from the post above, you should all throw your cartridges in the trash because they are high in distortion.  I don't know if that really is the case, and even if this were an objective fact, clearly, this supposed distortion doesn't matter much.  If it did, one can do even more to avoid it by avoiding analogue altogether and by buying a cheap CD player instead--by objective measurement, even a cheap player is vastly superior.
terry9
2,354 posts
 
Raul, even if that remark were incontrovertibly true, which it certainly is not, it was churlish.
karl_desch's avatar
karl_desch OP
445 posts
 
That's the thing.  I'm enjoying the music more with the Koetsu. The A90 is fantastic too, does everything right but the Koetsu is informative. Have you guys listened to Herbie Hancock's Headhunter's Analog Productions release?  Those bass lines kill me!
13blm's avatar
13blm
63 posts
 
Hey Karl when I cut you the arm board for the FR I’ll put an on the fly spindle to pivot adjustment on it. Well get that beautiful cart dialed in perfect!

Bruce
Anvil
analogman0
5 posts
 
What a lovely lady you have there Karl and a fantastic cartridge.

Unashamedly have been a Koetsu fan for 37 years and have had the opportunity to listen to many cartridges in my system along with a few of the Koetsu models since the original MC1 wood. I spent a lot of time with the RS, Koetsu Urushi Wajima, Onyx and Onyx Platinum. The Urushi's in general have been some of the best value Koetsus, in particular the Wajima, Black and the Vermilion. I did also hear the Sky Blue but wasn't so enamoured by it. It sounded very much like the Absolute Sound test report where the highs were rolled off. Not sure what was going on with that! The non platinum Onyx was a great cartridge too and of course the Onyx Platinum better still. As others have hinted, the stone bodied Koetsus are cooler sounding but resolve better.

I've not yet had the pleasure of trying a RSP, but if I may say, having tried the others in an FR64S, while working well, the highish mass of the arm started to cause some pickup of record warp etc. In this respect, the 64FX was a better match with its lower effective mass. I will be interested to know how you get on with the RSP in your 64S.

Other arms tried successfully with my Koetsus have been SME V, Graham Phantom Supreme, Goldmund T3B, Jelco 750, Koetsu 1100D mk2, VPI JMW 10.5i and the original JMW 10. I admit to being a bit shocked hearing the Wajima Urushi in the JMW 10, very open and dynamic!!! Have also heard the Urushi Black in an Origin Live Conquerer in a friends system and it was great.

I've been searching for alternatives to the Koetsus but haven't succeeded. Too many of today's high end cartridges sound like hifi and not a believable event. But as usual, just my opinion of course, and we all have one! Happy listening to all.

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