I think you’re doing ok. You may think about a turntable upgrade but that’s just part of the hobby. As for your koetsu, I have a Rosewood Signature mounted on my vpi scout. It’s sounds great. They can be finicky but keep adjusting. That’s what I did and eventually hit its sweet spot. Also be sure to use brass mounting screws. It helps. Good luck.
Can I get more out of my Koetsu ?
Hi Team,
This might be one of my only discussions on here so pls take it easy on me🙏.
My current dilemma is, as the title suggests, I don't know if I am doing one of my carts (Koetsu Rosewood Standard) justice.
Current setup is:
Koetsu > Yamamoto HS-5 headshell 18.4g > Technics 1200GR standard arm W-achromat > EAR MC4 > EAR Phonobox Classic > Leben 600x > Devore Fidelity 096;
The MC4 SUT is a new addition and it is all sounding pretty magical to me right now. Previously I was using the SUT in the phono stage.
I know the Koetsu is meant to be on a high mass arm and that is why I added the HS-5 head shell. It is heavy and brings the resonance calculation to acceptable range. I do have to add the added counter weight for the technics arm but with it everything tracks perfectly.
My other cart is a Hana ML low output MC cart. I like that one too but it only requires a medium mass arm which the Technics is so theoretically a better match.
The Koetsu already sounds magical and better than the Hana to my taste but how do I know if It could be sounding even better?
The way I see it:
- somehow hack a high mass arm onto the technics (don't think this would be easy and maybe not recommended)
- Upgrade to technics 1200g (better arm but still not high mass. actually think its less mass than the GR)
- Start a new journey with another table with high mass arm (possible but $$$)
- Just be happy with what I got and buy more records 😃
Strategy advice on how to navigate this problem and if new turntable is the answer some suggestions on how to approach that.
I am not fussy about audio equipment that looks like it can take me to the moon. I am more into older style equipment that just sounds lush, magical and gives me technicolor dreams.
Thanks in advance!!!
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Thanks everyone, enjoying the discussion. @mulveling you have offered SUT advice previously and I am really happy with the difference in sound sound the MC4 has made. I kept the interconnect short as you suggested and will try out some shorter interconnects from TT > SUT also (currently 1M). I have a good used high end HiFi warehouse at the end of my street so if I see any of the mentioned gear from this thread come through I will ask for a loan to experiment. I have been drooling over some turntables that could be possible upgrades but I think I am getting into the 10k territory which is allot for me and I might like to end up with something with 2 tone arms if spending that much. anywah appreciate all the comments and insights 🙏 |
For what it’s worth, I am using a custom built, solid state current driven head amp in front of my tube phono stage with MM levels of gain. The results are impeccable, terrific. I love it. I did it because you have to go out of your way for gain if you are using an Ortofon MC 2000 cartridge, which has possibly the lowest voltage output of any cartridge ever marketed but produces decent current output owing to its very low internal resistance (2 ohms). And I don’t own a SUT. this type of head amp is real competition for any step up transformer. Kudos to Sutherland for going commercial with the idea, if that’s what they’ve done. Because I can’t find such a product on their website. |
@lewm I ordered a set of head shell bolts designed for the purpose of experimenting with adding mass, like you said. The heaviest are about 6g so the difference = + 5g. My counter weight wasn't heavy enough to counter this much additional weight so I got a roll of solder I had lying around and tightly coiled it around my counter weight followed by some electrical tape then another layer of tightly coiled solder and more electrical tape. Looks quite neat and added enough weight to counter the new head shell screws. Do you see any issue with this counter weight hack? |
In my experience, mass itself isn't really the key factor in getting Koetsu to sing. I've heard them perform very well even on the relatively lightweight VPI 3D arm (*with dual pivot). I think the arm's bearing and overall energy management is more important than the moving mass, at least unless you're egregiously outside of the ideal 8 - 12 Hz resonance range. Experimenting with head shells is fine and could be a good idea, but I certainly wouldn't bother with hacking the counterweight or tacking extra mass onto ane existing headshell. So I'm not too surprised the extra mass wasn't an improvement. The Koetsu body already provides a lot of mass itself (10 - 13 grams). |
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