KISEKI PURPLE NS your reviews....

Nobody knows who made the original Kiseki's. The mysterious
Mr. Fokadu is invented by Van den Dungen who wanted revenge
against the old Sugano san. Van den Dungen was then Koetsu
importer and was confronted with curious business practice
of Sugano. He wanted payment in advance but deed no feel
obliged to deliver ''the goods''. As one reviewer mentioned without 
knowing the reasons: (the blue)'' Kiseki is Koetsus killer''.
This was exactly the intention of Van den Dungen. By such lack
of information ''one'' is allowed to speculate. My is that Kondo-san
made those Kiseki's. He was good friend of Van den Dungen both
sharing the same obsession for tube amps. What is more
Kondo san made 3 SUT's for Van den Dungen. The ''silver kind''
is my secret info; the same as Kondo's for an fraction of the
price. Even the imaginary Mr. Fokadu is no more so the new
Kiseki's are made by someone else but with Benz parts. 
This may explain like by Van den Hul carts that so many are
offered as second hand. I owned all Kiseki kinds except Lapis
Lazuli. This include the rare ''black heart''. The ''poor man'' 
Lazuli. The same generator but without diamond cantilever
and expensive  jewel stone. BTW the latest made Kiseki.

@nandric, the story of ’getting back at Sugano’ is well known and not disclaimed by van den Dungen, so probably holds some truth. Your speculation that the original Kiseki’s were built by Kondo is an interesting ’theory’, which almost sounds too good to be true. There is some visual resemblance with Kondo’s IO carts, so who knows? It would certainly add to the ’mystique’....

Do you know the specs of the original Black Heart? I have the Lapis with vdH tip on boron (alas not the original diamond cantilever). That means it’s now a Black Heart in a (very) fancy dress. The limited info available suggests the Lapis has an internal impedance of 6 ohms, much lower than the original Blue, Purple Heart and Agate models.

BTW: I have considered the option of having a Namiki diamond cantilever / micro ridge stylus installed, which would bring the Lapis close to its original form. Any thoughts?

Dear edgewear, Probably in order to add to the ''mystique'' of
the Lapis Lazuli there are no published technical specs. But
considering the fact(?) that ''black heart'' has the same generator
while there are specs for the ''black heart'' we may deduce to
''the same specs''. Your guess reg. 6ohms is correct. The stylus 
is line contact and VTF 1,-2.2 g.
The best repair service is by Dominic at Northwest Analogue in
UK but I never got any reaction from them. So I use ''Expert stylus''
UK instead. BTW there is also an silver version of the SUT with
both  low and high impedances : MCT -1 S improved. Very difficult
to find but ''one newer knows''. 

Dear Nandric, thanks for your confirmation on impedance. Compared to my other cartridges I would guess the Lapis has an output around 0.4 mV.
As my sample had been previously retipped I had to figure out VTF and settled on 1.85 grams. The vdHul tip is obviously different from the original and probably not 'polished by human hair', as van den Dungen's attempt at 'marketing humour' suggested. 

Dear edgewear, I need to first correct my VTF info. It is 1,6-2,2g
The output is 0,4 mV. I use 1,8 g for my blackheart. While Kiseki 
styli are polished by ''human hair'' those of Van den Hul are polished by Gyger in Swizerland. He designed the styli but Gyger  produced them.