Koetsu Stone Bodied Cartridges anyone heard the differences?
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I have a Jade and have heard quite a few of the others. My brother has a Blue Lace. Mullard88 has many stone bodies including a vintage long body Onyx, a Coral Stone and a Diamond cantilevered Tigereye. A friend who lives down the street from me has Coral Stones in Stereo and mono. The guy here who has a whole lot of experience with all stone bodied models is our resident NBA fanatic Jadis.
Although the innards are all the same they do sound different because of the MOHs scale differences of the bodies. To my ears the Coral is most balanced, the Jade the fastest sounding, the Blue and Tigereyes the most delicate and refined top ends.
Although the innards are all the same they do sound different because of the MOHs scale differences of the bodies. To my ears the Coral is most balanced, the Jade the fastest sounding, the Blue and Tigereyes the most delicate and refined top ends.
After hearing most of the stone bodies mentioned here, it's really hard to pick or say which is the best or what to 'upgrade' as upgrading simply connotes going up the price ladder, and not necessarily in performance vis-a-vis the price difference. The Jade to me offers the best value based on its price and to this day it's still on my wish list. Most stone bodies are faster than the wood bodies and among the stones, my take is that one normally cannot go wrong with any of them. It may be system dependent too, because in mine, the Blue Lace sounded the speediest, the CBS DM Mastersound of Friday Night in SF remains the most riveting I have heard in my system with it. The Jade is the most heavenly in terms of vocals (on Carol Kidd's When I Dream), and the Coral Stone is so good I cannot really put in a signature in it, it's just fantastic all ways.
The Jade jumped up to 15k last I looked. It might not be the value it once was. Yup, I think it is very arm dependent. The best I've heard Koetsus are on Koetsus, SMEs and Triplanars. They are perfectly fine with my Grahams but somehow not as solid in the punch area. Just a little bit looser. Maybe they like gimbals?
Or air bearing arms.
Stable and friction free. But yes, Koestus sounded good on its own designed arm, SMEs and Triplanar too as I can attest.I noticed too that not only the Jade has increased in price but also most of the lower models. Prices were a lot lower when I carried the line here.
What's the deal with the diamond cantilever option ? Is it worth it ? Is the cantilever made of a single diamond crystal or is it diamond dust bonded to some other cantilever material ?
hi christian,
i haven't exactly done an a/b comparison of a diamond cantilever vs a non-diamond one so i can't really gauge on the worth of the $4k option. i was told that the diamond cantilever is a whole piece affair up to the stylus, so it was carved or machined from 1 piece without any joints or bonding. as such it is brittle and the stylus can be snapped from the cantilever with some violent bounce. i actually had one customer who did this, ouch ouch ouch. My heart almost sank when he told me about it and the cost is painful as well out of the pocket. i was told by my regional distributor that this diamond cantilver/stylus represents the ultimate in the design philosophy of fumihiko sugano on cartridges.
Or air bearing arms.
I noticed too that not only the Jade has increased in price but also most of the lower models. Prices were a lot lower when I carried the line here.
You never invited me when you had all the precious stones around!
Thanks for the info Phil. More the reason to have your records spin flat (Vacuum or Perimeter/center weights) to be kind to the diamond cantilever.
anytime, christian.
from what i heard, whiskey, scotch and the like are also not recommended before playing with the diamond cantilever/stylus.
Guys,
Where do you buy screws for your stone body Koetsus? As you know Koetsu use M2.6, JIS screws in opposite to the standard M2.5, DIN ones. I had my Blue Lace rebuilt earlier this year and my screws from Koetsu USA (no more available via Acoustic Sounds) have been changed with the transport aluminum ones from the Koetsu office.
I tried a pair of Lyra screws (same size and thread standard), but I did not like the result, too.
Thanks in advance,
Emil
Where do you buy screws for your stone body Koetsus? As you know Koetsu use M2.6, JIS screws in opposite to the standard M2.5, DIN ones. I had my Blue Lace rebuilt earlier this year and my screws from Koetsu USA (no more available via Acoustic Sounds) have been changed with the transport aluminum ones from the Koetsu office.
I tried a pair of Lyra screws (same size and thread standard), but I did not like the result, too.
Thanks in advance,
Emil
Guys,
Where do you buy screws for your stone body Koetsus? As you know Koetsu use M2.6, JIS screws in opposite to the standard M2.5, DIN ones. I had my Blue Lace rebuilt earlier this year and my screws from Koetsu USA (no more available via Acoustic Sounds) have been changed with the transport aluminum ones from the Koetsu office.
I tried a pair of Lyra screws (same size and thread standard), but I did not like the result, too.
Thanks in advance,
Emil
What about Soundsmith?
They have the standard diameter 2.5, can't be tightened with a torque driver and the extra head weight would not please all tonearm designs.
I found that the cartridge works best at 0.3 Nm, done with WERA torque driver.
The best bolt material is that of van den hul and naim Aro bolts, sadly not the required M2.6 JIS.
Guys,
Where do you buy screws for your stone body Koetsus? As you know Koetsu use M2.6, JIS screws in opposite to the standard M2.5, DIN ones. I had my Blue Lace rebuilt earlier this year and my screws from Koetsu USA (no more available via Acoustic Sounds) have been changed with the transport aluminum ones from the Koetsu office.
Thanks in advance,
Emil
OK guys, what kind of bolts are you using with your precious Koetsu?
For me, nothing fancy, just a pair of gold plated bolts and nuts for my Rosewood Signature. I forgot where or how I got them.
I have always lusted for a stoned Koetsu (the Coral or the Blue Lace will do), right now I use a Blue Angel Mantis with Ruby (well now aluminium due to an accident while cleaning the plinth) canteliver that keeps me close to whar I expect from the earlier.
For me, nothing fancy, just a pair of gold plated bolts and nuts for my Rosewood Signature. I forgot where or how I got them.
View attachment 11536
That's a nice looking cartridge. And this is the first time I can say the same about bolts.
Thanks Emil. My last bolt was black colored and it was an allen bolt. And for some reasons, I put the nuts on top rather than below. This time, I wanted to do it 'right' and make it look better.
Jadis, I hope you are reading this and can offer me some advice on a Koetsu purchase (since you are a great authority on Koetsus according to Jack). Between the Coralstone and the jade which will you choose, taking value into consideration? On an overall scale of 10 and if the Coralstone were 10, what would the Jade be?
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