Koetsu Coralstone vs Olympos or Universe?

i am surprised by that. doug, could you expand on that? what needs to be adjusted? i just about to spring for one, but not want to spend 30 min tweeking each day. can u help? love all your very intelligent comments from experience in the forum . thanks from all of us.

Not to worry, I don't spend 30 minutes/day tweaking. More like 30 seconds.

The parameters that need most frequent attention are VTF and arm height.

We adjust the latter for each LP, but whether you'd want to depends on your sensitivity to integration in the time domain. What changes with the U's SRA is not frequency balance, but the relative timing of fundamental vs. harmonics. Getting these perfect matters most for natural/acoustic instruments. Whether it matters to you and your music is definitely a personal choice.

VTF changes we monitor simply by listening. If it's too heavy then speed, HF's, air and snap go missing. If it's too light bass weakens and/or you get incipient mistracking. A fine adjustment of .01g is all it takes. No scales or fuss, just a little tweak and on you go.

Pretty simple, or at least not a time waster at all.

Syntax: All Koetsus I did use or listened to, give a better Performance in a heavy Arm which has precise tough Bearing. Lots of pics show Koetsus with Triplanar, for sure most owners like it, but I found better solutions (for me)

Thanks for your comments. I am using my Jade on a Vector 3,
with very good results. I am curious what tonearms you found to be best w/ the Koetsu's. One tonearm that has ben recommended to me is the SME 5, but I haven't had the opportunity to hear this combo. Thanks in advance.

Hello Fjn04,
I did listen to various Koetsus in a lot of modern Arms, but not in all. I have no experience with the Vector Arm. I always wanted to get one but you know...so much out there....
I found the result "Koetsu+heavy Arm" by accident. I listened to a System with a Koetsu Onyx + an unknown Arm (for me at that time) and the reproduction was different to my - former - experience with Koetsus. It was a FR-64s Arm.
When I had a Koetsu RSP I mounted it in all of my Arms (see my System) and with the "old" FR Arms it was simply better from tones and dynamics compared to the other ones.

M189009, You have selected three of the really great cartridges. I am using all but regarding the Coralstone the Mono version. Let me say that I wasn`t a great Koetsu fan, e.g. with the Rosewood I could not cope so far.

This changed with the Coralstone completly. While the Olympos offers more clarity it entertains you also on the soft side, much more than the Titan I - this is a very nice mixture, precison and warmth. The Coralstone on the other hand also provides details but is able to build up dynamics I have not heard in this dramatic way. In no way: warm midrange,but top and bottom is `missing in action` as some comments do illustrate the character of some Koetsus.

The UNIverse is a good contender in this playfield. I will never sell my two UNIverses but you might assess them as upper middlefield. This should not be related to the price in my opinion. Well adjusted the UNIverse is precise, full of dynamics and being able to transport room and feeling, not the warmth of the Olympos.

So for which cartridge are you going for?