Dear Dover, Either I misspoke or you misunderstood my comments about Koetsu Urushi. Prior to the MM/MI odyssey, I was very happy with the Urushi. It was my only cartridge for 4-5 years. I still think the midrange is to die for and that the bass is not so soft as that of lower level Koetsu's, e.g., the Rosewood and its variants. However, after sampling a wide range of cartridges on several different tonearms in the past 2-3 years, I would concede that the Urushi can be beaten. I need now to go back and listen to it again on some of my present rigs, especially the SP10 Mk3/Reed 2A, because I think those complementary pieces may lift the Urushi up a notch or two in its performance. I have yet to hear ANY cartridge that has a clearly "better" capacity to reproduce the midrange frequencies, however, but this is based on now distant memories. (You know how the fog of romance can color one's fading perceptions, over time.) I have never yet heard the Urushi via my present modified Sound Lab speakers. I also rebuilt and upgraded my amplifiers since the last audition of the Urushi. So, all bets are off at the moment.