Koetsu Urushi: Blue Sky, Vermillion, Tsugaru

"Urushi", I believe, refers to the art of lacquer application.
I recently saw a chart comparing the various versions of the Urushi. It seems to agree with what you say. Only the Vermillion is somewhat distinctive. I would buy the Blue, because I like blue. In terms of output, the Urushi is a "tweener". I am not sure it has quite enough output to drive just any MM phono stage, but it does not need much more gain than what is typical for such a stage. It seems popular to bash the Koetsu line these days, but the Urushi still gives me great pleasure, and I now own several other cartridges with which to make comparisons.

Mallet or sledge, Urushi or Onyx,
It matters not which assails my head,
Oh! boundless joy when it stops.

Just for Lew, and only because the OP did ask. ;-)

It is very hard to listen to more than one Koetsu.
You are talking 4000.00+ list per, most stores cannot afford to have more than one setup on a TT. I do not know of any stores that will let you take any cartridges home never mind a Keotsu or a few of them. The cost to set them up just to listen to the differances would not be cost effective. I read lots of reviews and talked with people who have frontends like mine before I desided to purchase mine. Purchasing a cartridge is really a crap shoot. It is like a matress, you do not know till you use it and it also has to get broken in to see if there are issues. IMHO.

Lewm said:
"It seems popular to bash the Koetsu line these days, but the Urushi still gives me great pleasure, and I now own several other cartridges with which to make comparisons".

I own a Jade, but will be buying a second cartridge soon.
Let's say in the $2,000 range new. Just curious what other carts you like along w/ your Urushi. I am considering the
EMT tsd-15 at the moment. I see this thread is on the quiet side as Koetsu threads tend to be, so figured I would hijack it. Thanks in advance.

Dear Doug,
I don't get it, but I am not offended. Now that I have widened my horizons, I realize the Urushi is not the be-all and end-all. Since you are a UNIverse aficionado, it is not at all surprising that you would not care for Koetsus (assuming that was the intended message of your prose poem). I have never heard any other Koetsu, but the Urushi is not guilty of the myriad of shortcomings ascribed to the breed, only some of them. Nevertheless, I still hear a certain quality in the Urushi that causes me to keep it around. It sounds particularly terrific on my Kenwood L07D turntable, for some reason. It also helps that I was able to purchase it in Tokyo for a fraction of the list price everywhere outside Japan.