Koetsu Blue Lace Onyx vs. Coralstone

There is a review somewhere of one of the Blue Stone Koetsu's. I recently had it emailed to me. I think it is online. The reviewer compared the Urushi, Tiger Eye and something blue. But I forget. He then mentioned how the Coral Stone is something special and better than all.

I would hate to break a diamond cantilever and Koetsu's have a reputation for losing cantilevers. I have that personal experience and so does the review I am mentioning. If you can afford it then go for it.

think i did come across that review a while time back... don't think there was any reference to the Blue Lace Onyx though (i believe it was some other blue stone Koetsu cartridge... Lapis or something?!).

I once was a fan of Koetsu...however, I tend to think of them as audio candy rather than a cartridge I would own. If I were you, I would listen to the Koetsu of your choice compared with the top examples of Dyna, Benz, etc. I know it is a difficult search, but may very well save you money and disappointment in the long run.

Here s another koetsu review

http://www.dagogo.com/View-Article.asp?hArticle=530

Andromedaaudio, Thanks for that review. I am a long time happy owner of an Urushi, and I have had to absorb a lot of snide remarks from those who think Koetsu's are passe'. However, the review sucks. He seems to have reviewed a platinum version of the Urushi Vermillon, based on his statement that the output of his sample was given as 0.2mV. All the "normal" Urushi variants have an output of ~0.6mV. Moreover, I once inquired direct to my Japanese dealer about upgrading my Tsugaru to Platinum status and was told that it was not possible, after he consulted the factory in Tokyo. (IOW, this was not done thru the US importer.) Nor have I ever seen an Urushi Platinum for sale new, so this is all puzzling to me. Therefore I don't know what to make of his comments on the Vermillon. When he gets to the other two cartridges, his comments jump around to many other different stone-bodied Koetsu's, to the point where it is sometimes not obvious which one he is really talking about. Plus, the comments about the colors of the various stones are kind of silly and irrelevant, IMO. And finally, he never tells us what tonearm he used, let alone anything about his downstream electronics and speakers. Perhaps regular readers of Dagogo are expected to know this stuff. Still in all, I am now very curious about the Azule Platinum, not to say "salivating".