Koetsu vs Dynavector

Dan, with the threads posted here and and AA, I believe the Urushi fit in well with your taste and requirement.

I have the old Urushi (retipped by Koetsu Japan) and have to agree with Halco its highs roll off a bit. I think it will be good enough with your speaker. I buy Urushi simply because of its lushness in mid range, other area of deficiency is less important to me. If you are looking for a cartridge with good balance frequency spectrum, don't try Urushi.

Dear Djeickme75 : IMHO there are some subjects here that we have to take in count to make a cartridge choice ( btw, I agree with Halcro that the XV-1 and Urushis are different even between the Koetsus. )

While the Urushi Vermillion is a very low output at 0.2mv the Urushi Black is 0.4mv: big difference here. While the Koetsus are low compliance cartridges ( 5cu ) the XV-1 are a medium one ( 10 cu ) and with an output between the Koetsus ( 0.33mv. ).

All these cartridge facts/specs tell us that we have to take care to match either cartridge with the right tonearm and with the right top quality phono stage too, these two " considerations " are a must to achieve the real top quality performance on each cartridge.

You say that own a modified Rega tonearm and a modified Mod Squad phono stage that for me tell us almost nothing to give you a more precise advise about.

These cartridges are not a " cheap " ones ( over 4K ) and if your Rega/Mod Squad are not up to the task ( that maybe are not, I can't be sure. ) then IMHO you are only " loosing " your time and money on the subject and maybe you can't achieve what you are looking for.

Btw you can achieve what you want with either of those cartridges with the right equipment ( synergy ) and set up.

Dan, btw which cartridge do you own/use?

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
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I have used neither of these cartridges despite being, as a VPI dealer, able to get the Dynavector at a favorable price. I have used some of their predecessors and can agree that they are going to sound quite different. Also the room and characteristics of the system will have a large effect which is hard to predict. If I ever fell on my head and as a result was willing to spend big bucks on a cartridge I would get a Koetsu Red, but then I use transistors; so the Dynavector might well be the better choice with your tube system if you follow the principal that you balance rather than reinforce the rest of the system with the cartridge.

You guys make me think I'm going deaf. I hear no significant roll-off of the treble (compared for example to my CD player) with my Koetsu Urushi. I live in the Washington, DC, area. If anyone wants to come hear my "rolled off" system, please contact me privately. Bring records with which you are familiar. It might be fun.

What would you like to know about the Rega? None of the commonly done Rega mods alter the arms characteristics in any meaningful way. The effective mass is the same with the mods as without. The dampening is the same with or without. Until you get into some of the radical mods that are really beyond the average consumer (drilling the arm to change the mass or filling the arm with dampening material) the basic characteristics are fixed by the basic design. But in the interest of complete disclosure. The arm is a basic RB250 with the Incognito wiring kit that has been upgraded with Eichmann RCA jacks. The counterweight has been replaced with the Michell TecnoWeight and the arm has been fitted with the VTAF Teflon upgrade to allow easy optimization of VTA. The arm has not been stripped of its paint as I am suspect as to how much dampening a thin layer of powder coat can supply, so I haven't bothered to take the time to mess with such things.

In terms of the Mod Squad Phono, I can't be that much more specific. I don't have exact gain figures for it and I am not really sure they would supply much additional info anyway as I also don't have a gain value for the amp. If you are implying that total gain may be an issue, I would agree with you. That has been a concern with both the lower output Koetsu and the Dynavectors. The confounding variable here though is who do you believe in terms of cartridge output. The Koetsu Vermillion lists at 0.2mV on the KoetsuUsa site but the Stereophile review of said cartridge list it at 0.4mV. So I guess overall system gain is indeed a sticking point for our discussion but I don't think there is any easy was around this. The other criteria that you may have been looking for is loading for the cartridge. The Mod Squad has variable loading but off the top of my head I can't remember the values. The loading is easy to change via a simple knob so I suspect that I could easily find something that was at least in the ball park for most cartridges.

Currently I am a bottom dwelling of the cartridge world. I have a Grado Reference Platinum and a Zu modified Denon 103. The Grado is on my old Oracle Alexandria and the Zu is on my Lenco L70. The Zu is a bit of a challenge for the phono stage but it seems to get by without to much trouble but I will admit that I don't have any room to spare on gain. I love the Grado with voices. There are much more reach out and touch them than the Zu but the Zu has a propulsive sound that really keeps things going. I like the Grado for the majority of my listening as per my previous posts I gravitate to smaller scale vocal work but I must admit when the urge to crank up some classic Hendrix or Clapton strikes I would always lean towards the Zu. I intend to keep the Zu around and perhaps get a transformer to allow me to use it into the MM stage of the Mod Squad.

Hope that clarifies things enough to satisfy the detail oriented posters on this forum.

Don't think I forgot anything relevant.......perhaps only that my favourite colour is orange.