Kuzma/Koetsu feedbak??

While your Archiv cartridge may be a bit long in the tooth, my recommendation is to start by mounting that cartridge on your new arm/’table. It will help you assess the direction your new arm/’table is taking you.

Your desire for a Koetsu may be based on the attributes of your current arm and turntable. It may have no relevance to your new rig.

I say this as someone who sells and respects Koetsu (along with Ortofon, Lyra and Dynavector), but my advice to all of my customers is for them to try to get a handle on their new rig before "tailoring" it with a cartridge selection.

At the end of the day, a Koetsu may still make the most sense for you, but taking it slowly and systematically is never a bad thing.

You’ll find a Kuzma/Kuzma rig to be considerably less "excitable" than an LP12/Ekos setup and what you think might require some "sweetening" with a Koetsu may not be required with your new front end.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design

Hi @fjn04

It befuddles me that the Kuzma tables have not caught on in the US, in the way the Kuzma tonearms have. Not sure if I could venture as to why, but that’s all for another conversation.

I share your befuddlement. I suspect it’s a cosmetic thing. A lot of audiophiles buy with their eyes.

Kuzma makes very fine turntables and if I didn’t manufacture ’tables, it’s what I’d own.

I’ve been trying to develop a turntable in the $9K range, but US manufacturing prices put me at a serious disadvantage (compared with those of Eastern Europe).

I’ve fairly well concluded that while I can compete with anyone at a higher price point, I don’t see the point in trying to develop a $9K turntable.

I’m giving serious thought to integrating one of the Stabi R’s (or Stabi Reference) into the Galibier lineup.

This may seem odd for a turntable manufacturer, but with a direct sales model, my primary goal is to best fulfill my customers’ requirements and I think I’m hitting my head against the wall in trying to design a $9k turntable to compete with the Stabi R.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier Design

thom@galbier design
Thanks for your suggestions.  Unfortunately, my Archiv has recently passed the point of no return.  It has gone from worn to a dead channel, so there is no option to try it on any new rig.  The Koetsu Rosewood Signature Platinum cartridge comes highly recommended by Danny Labrecque, co-owner and designer of Luna cables, who has been in the high end audio business most of his adult life.  He feels that the Stabi XL DC with the 4 Point 14" arm and the Aforementioned cartridge would be a perfect match to the 500 Series Naim gear and the Grandinote Mach 36' speakers, which comprise the rest of my rig.  (He has worked with Naim and Linn for years and knows them intimately.)  I would love to be able to sample various cartridges in my home, but I do not see how that is reasonably possible.
I was not familiar with your company until now, but after looking it up on line, it seems to be very impressive.  Is there anyplace in the NY Metro area where they are featured?

By the way, if you have not sampled Luna Cables, I highly suggest you do.  The owner and chief engineer of Grandinote, Massimiliano Magri, or Max, as he is known, will only use Luna cables with his gear at all the international shows.  I found them to be stunning!

@thom_mackris , where is your shop? You sound like a most ethical dealer!

@orenstein, "  I found them to be stunning!" Ever since I read a post that called fuses stunning I have not trusted that word when applied to audio gear unless it's "when I saw the price I was stunned!" That I believe. ;^)
(Jus' kiddin')

@2channel8,  LOL........my adjectival choice for the Luna cables could have even been worse:   AWESOME!
But seriously, as each of my current  Hi Line and Power Line Naim cables were interchanged with the Luna, the difference was really "stunning".  There were several people in the room, all in the high end industry, and all were amazed at the improved performance.  The substitutions included:  a 5 DIN interconnect between my NAIM 555 CD player and the Naim 552 Pre-amp,  2 XLR cables between the Naim 500 amp and the pre-amp, speaker cables, and 4 power lines from the various power supplies.  As a result of this demonstration, I put my money where my mouth was, and purchased the entire lot of them.  You might want to check them out.  I have Danny's (owner) contact info if you need it.
Mitch