Koetsu Coralstone

[rockitman]

Yes I reckon it has another 70 hrs at least until it is broken in. I put a hobbs meter on the vacuum solenoid of the Versa so I can keep track of about how many hours I have on it.

I suggest you listen through a good DAC in your main system.

I will.

 

[853guy]

Thanks so much for taking the time to download and listen to my transcriptions. You certainly have a better knack for describing what you hear than I do. Very entertaining. I will have to look up Gerry Anderson. (I didn't get the reference, sorry.)

Thunderbirds... Stingray... Captain Scarlet...? No?

 

[Bill Demars]

I decided to go ahead and adjust VTA/SRA today. Here's a new USB microscope shot at 230x

View attachment 23885

That is an amazing shot! Can you please tell me a little more about how you captured such a great image of your stylus. Looks like you're in about 3/4" from the outside platter. And with the cart sitting on a long mirror? I have been using a cd that hangs off the edge of the platter and it's a little nerve-wracking to see my cart so close to impending doom. What is all the out-rigger stuff you have holding your Dino?

 

[mem916]

Yikes! Yeah I never liked Fremer's idea of using a CD. Just get some mirrored plexiglass from an art's and craft store somewhere. Needs to be 0.070" thick or so. The "out-rigger stuff" is some modifications I made to the Dino-Lite microscope stand. The stock stand can be seen in this post I made last week:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?6983-Koetsu-Coralstone&p=356132&viewfull=1#post356132

Which model of USB microscope are you using? If you have a long enough working distance or can modify the stand you are using to get the scope closer you should be able to at least have the cartridge on the platter instead of hanging off the edge. I thought about cutting up a clear LP to get a shot of the stylus actually in a groove but that seems a bit obsessive. I see that Dino-Lite now offers a 5MP USB Microscope but it costs $1000. http://www.microscope.com/digital-microscopes/dino-lite/?tms_camera_resolution_mpixel=1011

That is an amazing shot! Can you please tell me a little more about how you captured such a great image of your stylus. Looks like you're in about 3/4" from the outside platter. And with the cart sitting on a long mirror? I have been using a cd that hangs off the edge of the platter and it's a little nerve-wracking to see my cart so close to impending doom. What is all the out-rigger stuff you have holding your Dino?

 

[mem916]

Thunderbirds... Stingray... Captain Scarlet...? No?

Wow! A whole world I didn't know about. (Just skimmed the wikipedia page.)

 

[mem916]

Just for fun I recorded "Casey Jones" off of The Grateful Dead's "Workingman's Dead" today. Here's the file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2ceYgRGBXdba2xsUmU3ckRUVXM/view?usp=sharing

 

[853guy]

Wow! A whole world I didn't know about. (Just skimmed the wikipedia page.)

Yeah, pretty cool. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons still kinda freaks me out.

But enough about my 60's nostalgic predilections... back to your regularly scheduled program.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Thunderbirds... Stingray... Captain Scarlet...? No?

Wow! A whole world I didn't know about. (Just skimmed the wikipedia page.)

Don't forget UFO, Space 1999...

 

[gian60]

 

[gian60]

This is Coralstone Diamond of my friend,

 

[rockitman]

View attachment 27585

That is the most colorful Coralstone body I have ever seen. Certainly deserves to be dressed up with the diamond cantilever. Thanks for sharing. Wow !

 

[gian60]

In Italy is first time we see this color.
Also italian distributors saw only this
Others arrived in Italy are the usually color.

 

[mem916]

That is a beautiful cartridge!

In Italy is first time we see this color.
Also italian distributors saw only this
Others arrived in Italy are the usually color.

 

[jadis]

View attachment 27585

Beautiful, first time for me to see it with red tonal color.

 

[108CY]

Beautiful, first time for me to see it with red tonal color.

I have seen and owned so many types of stone body cartridges that technically don't exist, such as the black tiger eye and blue tiger eye, than we have the black jade the most unusual one is the orange carnelian there are many many more.

It is getting much harder to find these unusual bodies but so many have been created in the past weird each one has their own sonic charm and can be very addictive.

 

[rockitman]

OK I finally got around to listening to my old (boron cantilever) Coralstone back to back against the new (diamond cantilever) Coralstone.

Before listening I measured the output of both with a test record and the new cartridge is 5.5 dB higher than the old one. I am not sure if this is because Koetsu has increased the output or because my used cartridge has fallen in output over the years. (It is 4.5 years old and had about 2500 Hrs on it.)

Also, I have only managed to put 4.8 Hrs on the new cartridge so it is nowhere near to being broken in and I haven't done the critical VTA adjustment. Nonetheless I had to do the back to back listening test. I played that same 2nd side of the Speaker's Corner reissue of the Firebird and matched levels with a dB meter so that the peak was 99 dBC on both.

What stood out was that individual notes seem much more "distinct" with the new cartridge. The "blattiness" of the horns was more pronounced. The sense of the recording space and the low level echoes from various instruments were more apparent. Overall the recording sounded more natural and much closer to the experience of hearing a live symphony in the concert hall. Now to break it in and do the fine adjustments to get even more out of it!

Here is a link to a google drive folder with samples from both cartridges in it. I normalized the recording from the boron cantilever cartridge so you don't have to adjust volume to match levels. I am interested in any comments from people who listen to these files.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B2ceYgRGBXdbTVBoeWViYnpLSGc&usp=sharing

This thread is appropriate to bring back to life...boron/diamond comparo data point.

 

[mem916]

This thread is appropriate to bring back to life...boron/diamond comparo data point.

I think I deleted those files from my google drive. Will see if I can find them tomorrow.

Still loving the diamond version, by the way.

 

[Tango]

Hello all fellow cart addicts,

This is a Coralstone thread but since you already have a Coralstone, I would like to encourage you to each buy one Opus1. It is a wonderful cart and if you can buy a diamond canti it is not going to make you poor. I love you all and want you to have another wonderful cart.

Tang

 

[Audiocrack]

Does anyone have the specs of the Koetsu Coralstone platinum diamond cartridge available? Somehow I cannot find it at home and on the internet I can only find the specs of the Coralstone with the boron cantilever.

 

[JackD201]

Does anyone have the specs of the Koetsu Coralstone platinum diamond cartridge available? Somehow I cannot find it at home and on the internet I can only find the specs of the Coralstone with the boron cantilever.

Hi AC, As far as I know, aside from cartridge weight the electrical specs should be the same as any other Platinum Diamond Koetsu.