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Koetsu vs Dynavector

I am looking at new (well new to me anyway) cartridges for my turntable. I have found a couple of interesting candidates but given that cartridges are one of the hardest things to purchase because of the problems of arranging home trials, I am interested in other peoples opinions. I am looking at the Koetsu Urushi's (either a Vermillion or a Black) or a Dynavector Te Kaitora Rua or XV1. I realize there is a bit of a price spread at normal retail but there are some demo issues that level the field a bit. My system is as follows Oracle Delphi MkIV with a highly modified Rega arm running into a modified Mod Squad Phono Drive. This all runs into a Sonic Euphoria Transformer based volume control. The amp is a custom tube amp based on the 6L6 tube (using NOS Tung Sol 5881 at the moment). This puts out twenty watts of PP power to a pair of Quad ESL 63. The cables are a mix of Homegrown Audio silver interconnects with Eichman silver RCA jacks and Analysis Audio Silver speaker cables.
My musical preferences lie in the smaller scale more introspective sphere on this system (I have a Altec Lansing based horn setup for rocking out). Anything from Frank and Ella to Johhny Cash to Bob Dylan to Dianna Krall. I also love the instruments that share the vocal sound. I gravitate to cello, saxophone and trombone over guitar and piano. I want to here the tone and texture of the voice as my first priority and timing a bit further down the line. My listening room is a bit on the large side (30' x 50' x 25') and has a very live acoustic. It has polished concrete floors and 115 year old plaster walls (I live in an 1893 Methodist church).
I welcome any opinions but I am mostly looking for people with actual hands on experience with either the Koetsus or the Dynavectors.

Thanks
Dan
djeickme75
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Ditto what Halcro posted about all of these cartridges. Short of a Universe I would, and did, go for the XV-1s. Koetsu house sound just isn't to my liking for the music I listen to most often and it seems I listen to about the same mix of music as the OP. For what it's worth.
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
Hey - I've got those pillows too!

Only wish I had the same picture of palm trees outside my window - way too cold this past week.

Enjoy,
Bob
lewm
13,010 posts
 
Halcro, I don't mean to take issue with your opinion of the Koetsu Urushi, but my experience is quite different. In my system I am getting great bass and fantastic treble from the Urushi. And of course the midrange is to die for. Whether or not it's "laid back" is something I cannot quite grapple with, unless I did a comparison with a number of other hi-end cartridges. Obviously, a lot depends upon downstream components, one's listening habits, and one's preferences, which is my main point. But in fact, in my listening room, I am usually thinking about ways to tame the bass response a bit, rather than to enhance it.
fosse
47 posts
 
I tried both the Koetsu Urushi and XV-1s in my system when buying my turntable. In my system the XV-1s was the better choice (more open, faster, not as laidback as the Urushi). I ended up buying aTe Kaitora Rua but switched to XV-1s after a couple of months. All cartridges on Avid Acutus/DV 507MKII.

A friend of mine later bought the same Urushi for his SME20/V combo and this sounds great. On the warm side of neutral, but I really like it.

This is down to matching and preferences, but I would say that det Koetsu is more lush/romantic sounding than the XV-1s.
djeickme75 OP
8 posts
 
I feel that there is no "best" piece of audio gear. There is only a best for a specific listener, in a specific space with a specific setup. This is why I always try and post as much context as possible about my preferences and associated gear when I post on a forum. For me that "real person" feeling in the core of midrange is the most important thing. This is the range that the human ear is the most sensitive to for a variety of evolutionary reasons. It is also the area that conveys the bulk of the emotional meaning of the music. While I certainly appreciate the bombast of the bass drums in large scale orchestral music and the subtle timing that a well played high-hat can add to a rock or jazz number, they are always secondary to me. Sure they still convey some emotional meaning (the bombast tells me to be scared or elated for example) but I think the bulk of the meaning, even in a generally large scale work like the 1812 Overture for example comes from the musicians working in the middle of the sound range. In an ideal world it would be great to have that midrange covered beautifully as well as the extension to the extremes of the frequency range with perfect timing accuracy. Unfortunately this ideal is not realistic even for those on the most extreme of budgets (which I am not). We all make choices about what is the most important to us and chose to maximize those priorities (this is true in all aspects of life, not just audio).

To tell the truth, even if one of the posters to this forum had exactly the same system as I do and a very similar room and similar tastes in music, I still would not blindly follow his recommendation. The choice is far too individual. The reason I post is to hear some of the differing opinions and try and synthesize a view on the world that works with my own preferences. So keep it coming with "Koetsu's are grossly coloured", "Koetsu's are made by magic elves with special magnets made from metoers that were sent to earth in the Great Age of Sound by the God of HIFI (and that is not J Gordon Holt and certainly not Harry Pearson). You should bow down before them and not even subject them to the insult of playing anything less than the most Holy of music (Famous Blue Raincoat by J Warnes, I think).", "Rega is crap and shouldn't have anything more valuable than a cactus needle for a stylus" and "Rega is the only true tonearm and all other tonearms are actually machined from the femur of the devil to ensnare us into spending too much money".
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