Koetsu Urushi: Blue Sky, Vermillion, Tsugaru

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.

Lew, I have the plain old vanilla Koetsu Rosewood, and I agree coupled with a DD table you seem to get the best of both worlds.
The great tone of the Koetsu and the speed and control a well engineered DD table.

cheers

Dear Fjn04, Like most of us, I like what I have or what I have heard. I happen to have a Colibri, which is the yin to Koetsu Yang (or vice-versa), but I like it too. In a head to head, I might have to rank the Colibri above the Urushi. I also have an Ortofon MC7500, the grandfather of the MC A90. I still have not plumbed that one for all that it can probably do. I've been playing with MM/MI cartridges, too. The Azden 50VL is conceivably a better all around cartridge than many of the expensive MCs. I am very interested to hear the latest Transfiguration and Lyra cartridges, especially their mid-priced ones. Downunder makes a good point; when you combine the Urushi with a very good direct-drive turntable (like his P3 or my L07D), there is synergy.