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Koetsu Restoration

I just finished a weekend listening to a Koetsu Black I had restored by Soundsmith and thought I should share this with other members. I had it restored with Soundsmith's Ruby Cantilever and Optimized Contour. Their top of the line restoration. I have to confessed I never expected the out of the box performance I heard on this cartridge. I installed it on a second system and my wife said it sounded better than my main system which is $10K more expensive. The level of expression and musicality on this restored cartridge was beyond my expectations. Enough said! Before you discard your old cartridge you may want to consider a restoration. I did and I am really happy with the results. This is the first time I have had a cartridge restored and I am already considering the restoration of two other classic cartridges I have.
dserran
lewm
13,006 posts
 
Genesis said it all.
cmk
397 posts
 
Hi Dserren
May I know what VTF are you using with the Black now and what was the original recommended VTF?

What is the TT setup of your main rig if I might enquire?

Thanks
pauly
1,012 posts
 
Soundsmith does a retip on Koetsus, they do not (as far as I know) rebuild the Koetsu. The only folks that do that are Koetsu themselves. I have had a Soundsmith retip twice on my Rosewood, and sonically it was at least as good as the original.

Sadly the Soundsmith tip proved very fragile in my environment and I lost both tips after a couple of hundred hours play time. Peter quite graciously retipped my cart at no charge, no questions asked the second time round, but I decided to have a factory rebuild (and upgrade to Signature level) this last time.

To your pint, it is definitely worth while to have a vintage cart retipped/rebuilt as they normally have a lot of life left in the motors after the tip has expired.

Regards
Paul
dserran OP
8 posts
 
The rebuilt Koetsu Black does have slightly more air and detail, but not to the point of dislike. I don't like too much detail, so I would have noticed any exagerated analytical performance. It does preserve some of the basic qualities I liked of the Koetsu Black. Sorry I can't describe better what my ears hear, I just enjoy what I hear.

My main system is a Acoustic Signature Mambo with a Graham 1.5 arm that has been upgraded to 2.2 status and ceramic wand with integrated nightingale cartridge. To my ears a great set-up and I am also very pleased with it. The system where I am using the Koetsu Black is an Opera Consonance LP2.0 with SME M9 tonearm and the rebuilt Koetsu Black. Phono preamp for the first is Unison Research Simply Phono and for the second Linn Linto. The first is an all tube system whereas the second is an all Linn(SS) system. I have not A-B the Koetsu in my first system so it's difficult to compare one with the other. There are huge differences in the systems and it would be unfair to say that one cartridge is better than the other. I believe that for the price of the rebuilt, and with the system I am using, it's a great cartridge.

Tracking force is a bit less with the rebuilt cartridge than original.
david12
1,454 posts
 
I had my Red Signature retipped by the Experst Stylus company in the UK. I think it's very hard to compare the sound, once you have waited a couple of months for it's return, but it sounded pretty darn good to me. They replace tip and cantilever if necessary. Cost £225 against £1800 in the UK for a rebuild, the maths is pretty compelling
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