2. analog
  3. 1042141035

"HELP" tired Koetsu

Great Forum Gang! MY DILEMA: I have used a Koetsu Rosewood for over 20 years. I have had it retipped once[about 5 years ago and it is tired again. Should I retip it again? or invest in the Shelter 501? I have "never" heard the shelter however; by reading "between the lines" here and elswhere it sounds like it has a similar voicing [tonally] to my beloved Koetsu[lush].I use the Melco table and 2 tone arms 1) sumiko -The ARM and 2)the ET-2[heavily tweaked].The koetsu performs well in both arms. I also have a Stax [12inch model]in the closet somewhere.As I am sure most of us vinyl "dinasaurs" realize arm/cartridge synergy is of paramount importance.Do you think the shelter will work as well as the Koetsu with any or all of these tonearms? The koetsu was magnificent in the ET-2 and was hoping the shelter would be as well.Of course- I am open to other suggestions and recommendations. Cheers David.
ecclectique
maxgain
526 posts
 
I have to say that I loved my SME III back in those days. I had the EMT nude mounted into the detachable arm wand. (it came in a big clunky head shell, and was the only way to use it with the III)
maxgain
526 posts
 
I have one of the very first Well Tempered Labs tables with their arm on it that I have had since my last gig in the audio business.
twl
3,251 posts
 
Well, Max, the Shure should do ok in that arm. I think that maybe you have gone the wrong way in cartridge selection. When you like the sound of Japanese low compliance, low output MC, and then go to American high compliance, high output MM, you have to expect alot of difference.

If the price is a major factor, then the Denons, or the Ortofon X5-MC would be real nice. The X5-MC is a reasonably high output MC that is around 2mv, so it might work in your ARC MM phono section, without a transformer, if you have enough gain to support a 2mv cart.

The same guy, Martin, is also selling the X5-MC for around $115, which is way below the $325 retail.

I found that once I got hooked on low compliance, low output Japanese cartridges, I couldn't listen to anything else. You might consider this, because that might be what's driving you out of analog.
maxgain
526 posts
 
2mv, is no problem at all for the 9 . That's what the Shinon was and it worked great. It sounded pretty good for a very long time and then all of a sudden, wow it gave it up! It was never my ultimate first choice, but it was given to me by a friend for the price of a re-tip. It may have been a bit hot on top in some ways but the rest of my system at the time(things have changed a little) was very mellow and it never seemed to be a problem.

Who make a decent transformer and where can I get some info on them for future reference. I actually was into medium to high output MC's(I think the EMT was 1mv, which is where my user name comes from, crank the old ARC to max and get those Maggies singing), since I never had good experiences with any sort of step up device in the past.
twl
3,251 posts
 
You gotta get a good one, and they're not cheap. The best I know of that you can get new, would be the EAR MC3, and the Shelter 411. The good used ones are the Cotter Mk2, like I have, but it has a very funky loading system, and requires soldering jumpers, and the correct diagram to tell you which ones to solder. Also some of the more expensive Ortofons are good, and of course the $6k silver wound Audio Note Kondo model is real good. If you can DIY, Bent Audio offers some raw transformers with schematics, so you can make your own for about $400. Or you could find some Lundahl or Jensen raw transformers, and do the same thing.
The $100 stuff isn't going to get you where you want to go. The good stuff is $800 and up. Sad, but true.
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