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"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
ecclectique OP
509 posts
 
Hi Gang. The denon 103d is a decent sounding cartridge and is what I used when my koetsu went back for rebuild.I also still have a FR-1 mk2 with very few hours on it and I use it for a spare.However;neither are in the same league as the rosewood.I think "what" Twl was alluding to; regarding the Japaneese sound and the Euro sound makes more than a little sense to me and is really a rather astute observation worthy of further dialogue.Now I personally have not heard a great many of the Euro coils in my set up- however I have heard more than a few and always preferred the japaneese coils.A few years ago I sent my 103d to Van den hul for a retip and was rather disappointed with its sound... which I think was rather sterile in comparison to its original voice,I will admit it was very clear and probably tracked better than the original but it just wouldn't let me forget I was listening to it.Even though the original 103d had a rather overblown bottom octave, it always sounded musical in my rig.
twl
3,251 posts
 
I will tell you that a really musical cartridge in the very reasonable price range, is the Denon DL103R. I used one of those for several months before getting my Shelter 501, and it is a jewel of a cartridge, for the money. Very similar in character to the Shelter, and very detailed and dynamic, with the "wholeness" in the presentation. I would highly recommend this cartridge to anyone wanting really nice musical sound for very low money. It could stomp on a number of $1k cartridges, with no trouble at all. And it only costs $230.
ecclectique OP
509 posts
 
Twl... The supex line?? If you mean the 900 series you are really old man.[just kidding]
twl
3,251 posts
 
Yes, I'm old and in the way.
maxgain
526 posts
 
Perhaps I have drawn some conclusions about stylus shape and step up devices over my 30 years of fooling with tables and the related parifinalia. I need to find out more.

What is your take on the wood Grado's Twl, just to get a reference point that I know. I assumed that all the damn noise i heard from it was from the stylus shape. This was not there with my old micro ridge/boron coil. I see that the Shelter has an elliptical diamond. That sort of makes me wonder. I loved the EMT and it was of all things conical like the Dennpn 103.

The othe problem I have is(other than being broke)that my record collection needs something( I am boored with most of it too, which is why I got a CD in the first place, and new records are spendy as well). What do you do to keep things quiet? I use a Nitty Gritty but it isn't magic. Perhaps I am just more sensitive to the noise after 3 years of CD listening. I still may bail!
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