Stereo Sound cart rankings

It's hardly a "budget" list.

Take some time and look more closely.

Dear JCarr, During my visits to Tokyo, it is always surprising to me that the average Japanese audio salesperson has barely any knowledge of the Koetsu line, especially since they are made right there. (This knowledge was gained by having my son present to interpret for me. He is quite fluent in Japanese.) To buy a Koetsu in Tokyo, one must order it and wait a couple of weeks for delivery. Similarly, I have never seen a Miyabi cartridge in even the highest of high end stores. On the other hand, Dynavectors and ZYXs and of course Denons are commonplace. You probably know much more about the whys and wherefores of this situation than I; what's the deal?

Cmk, I did miss your "clarifying" post. For the money the 103R is probably the one to beat.

A good friend has two Denon 103's, one being the R version. After break-in and getting familiar with the sound, he went with one of the after-market wood body "upgrades" which further improved the sound.

Koetsu is handled by a few dealers - I think that the dealer advert section in Stereo Sound should list some. You can also occasionally pick up a used or B-Stock piece from the likes of SIS Audio or Hi-fi Do.

Regarding Miyabi, you can again peruse through the dealer adverts in Stereo Sound or Stereo. You could also call up one of the Audio Union or Dynamic Audio dealers and see if they have what you are looking for, or would be willing to direct you to someone else who does (which would be true for Koetsu, Miyabi, or any other interesting brand). Also since 47 Labs does a version of the Miyabi, if you contact 47 they should be able to direct you to a dealer (although I think the number of dealers will be less than for Koetsu).

Note that the Miyabis are all made by one person only (which is a different situation from Koetsu, AFAIK), and therefore the production quantity is limited, which means that the number of dealers must also be limited.

I also use one builder only (with the sole exception of the Dorian), and his maximum yearly output is less than 1000 cartridges total, including all rebuilds, OEM work and new cartridges - and that's with him quite overworked.

Mind you, the Japan of today is not like the audio heydays in the 80s and early 90s, when many dealers had all kinds of exotic gear. Today audio is very much of a small niche market; some of the former premier audio dealers have gone out of business (like Yamagiwa), and because of dwindling income and profit, many larger dealers have been forced to divest their shelf space for audio lines in favor of home-theater and flat-panel displays, computers and cellular phones, where market interest remains high.

Nonetheless, if you exclude the big boys like Accuphase or Luxman (not to mention Denon, Pioneer, Sony et al), Japan still has many tiny manufacturers that have quite interesting products. The dedicated, progressive Japanese audiophile will research the magazines, on-line forums, contact dealers (that they may or may not have a relationship with) and gradually find out how to contact the manufacturers or ferret out where their dealers are. I have my own network of audiophile buddies, and we trade tips on dealers, LP stores as well as gear. I think that more and more today you need that kind of network if you want to find interesting gear in Japan (in the countryside, the dealers tend to become a focal point for the local audio communities - kind of like audio clubs).

Today's situation compared to years past of course makes it considerably harder for foreign visitors to find interesting things. Unfortunately.

regards and hth, jonathan carr