Koetsu cartridges - myth or reality?

Well, it seems as if we know which arms do not mate well
with the Stone Koetsu's. It is rather unusual that there
are not many unanimous opinions as to which tonearms do.
This is likely my next step, now that I have my Vac amp
in and sounding so good. If I stay with my Basis 2500, I
would likely replace my Vector 3 with a Phantom. It will
take some time, as I must recup from the amp purchase and
the Grahams take a while to get. I have the Jade Platinum,
which I may have mentioned earlier in this post.

On of the features that I was looking for in a tonearm is that it must be compatible with most cartridges in the market today. I just didn't want to get caught up with a tonearm that couldn't handle a light-weight or a heavy-weight cartridge, should I decide to get one of these in the future.

Dynavector makes the following cartridges:

DV-10X5:   6.6 grams
20x H/L: 8.6 grams
17D3: 5.3 grams
XX2 MK11: 8.9 grams
Te KAITORA RUA: 9.8 grams
XV1-S: 12.6 grams

As you can see, their cartridge weight goes from 6.6 grams to 12.6 grams. According to the specs, optimum cartridge wight for the 507 MK II is from15 to 35 grams, including headshell. The headshell weights 15.4 grams. That means you can use it with a cartridge that weights nothing to one that weights 19.6 grams. This is possible by using one of the three weights supplied with the tonearm. Each weight is optimized for a particular weight range.

Since the headshell is detachable and uses as 4-pin standard connection, the 507 is compatible with any standard headshell in the market today. I can purchase extra headshells, mount a cartridge and forget about it. I can simply swap a cartridge in less than a minute because I only need to make sure that the appropriate weight is attached to the tonearm.

It also helped decide on the 507 the fact that the same company that makes these cartridges also makes a top-notch tonearm. I think one thing they needed to get right is that the 507 worked well with their cartridges.

I don't want to imply that the 507 for sure mates well with Koetsus, but I'll be highly surprised if it doesn't

Below are two links to reviews of the 507 MK II with more technical information about it.

http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/dynavector507_e.html

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/equipment/1205/dynavector507mkii.htm

Regards,

iSanchez

Isanchez...superb post.I'll re-read those reviews to refresh my memory,having read the TNT review awhile ago.Fun to revisit quality products like this arm.

BTW,I had a friend who ran a Koetsu Onyx on an early version 507,and he had little to complain about.The speakers were the huge Beveridge designs,so the possibility of some "sweetening" of sound may have been at play,but it sure was interesting to listen to!
Best.

Best.

Sirspeedy, thanks for your kind comments. I did find those reviews very instructive when I first read them. I really believe that this tonearm can pretty much handle anything. It is a pleasure to set up and a bigger pleasure to listen to it knowing that it'll extract the most out of the record.

Regards,

iSanchez

Dear iSanchez, I read the URL you posted on the DV507. Your post above Sirspeedy's last one missed the point of my question. I am wondering about tonearm effective mass as it relates to cartridge resonance, and you wrote about counter-weights and the ability to set VTF with a variety of weights provided. I have no doubt that the DV507, like any good high end tonearm, can be made to provide proper VTF with just about any cartridge. What bothered me was that by just looking at the 507, it would seem to have very low effective mass in the vertical plane, due to the vestigial nature of the vertically pivoted portion. If this were so, it would not be a good match for low to medium compliance cartridges, i.e., most LOMCs, including the Koetsus. However, now that I've read the review you've provided, I see that the 507 comes supplied with a 15-gram headshell, which will give it a pretty high effective mass when combined with the short arm tube and the screws, etc. Therefore, my question has been answered, and Raul points out that for high compliance cartridges one can use lighter after-market headshells. So the 507 probably can be made to mate well with most cartridges. Now, if it only allowed for azimuth adjustment....