Getting The Most Out Of A Koetsu Urushi

Dear Quincy, Contrary to your assertion, the Urushi and other Koetsu's have a rather "high" output signal voltage, compared to many other expensive LOMC cartridges.  It's from 0.4 to 0.6mV, depending upon which stylus velocity you use as standard.  The "Platinum" line of Koetsu cartridges does produce less output voltage. The Urushi is not one of those.

Dear neonknight, I do not follow your logic, at all, in arriving at the conclusion that you need a SUT.  Your internal argument seems to be based on wanting to provide less of a load resistance for your Koetsu, something higher in value than 500 ohms, based on what you wrote.  But adding a SUT will REDUCE the load "seen" by the cartridge, by a factor equal to the square of the turns ratio of the SUT.  For example, if you run a 1:20 SUT into the 47K ohm fixed load resistance of your NuVista, the net load seen by the cartridge will be 47,000/400 = 117.5 ohms.  This is apparently lower (or more of a load) than you desire.  (See also below about why not to use a SUT into an MC phono section capable of 70db gain.)

You state that the Urushi sounds best to you, or most open, with the 47K ohm load afforded by your NuVista at its MC inputs.  Why not go with that?  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. And finally, if you are going to use a SUT with either of your two phono stages, they must have an alternate pair of inputs for MM cartridges (lower gain) that provides at least a 47K load resistance if not higher in value. With 70db of gain from your NuVista MC section, using a SUT would overload your phono stage and probably would sound bad, besides also reducing the net value of the load on the cartridge, thereby loading down your cartridge (see above).

As an aside, I have lately been using 47K as a load for all of my MC cartridges; it sounds excellent.  I historically used 100 ohms as a load for my Urushi, and I was also satisfied with that for many years. The value of the load resistance should have at most a very subtle effect on apparent frequency response of an LOMC cartridge, most likely to be heard at the very top end of the spectrum.  It's more of a "feeling" than a measurable roll-off. 

Sorry. I wrote: "Your internal argument seems to be based on wanting to provide less of a load resistance..."  Actually, you want a higher load R which is less of a load. Hence the confusion of my earlier sentence.  The higher the value of the load resistor, the lesser is the load on the cartridge output.  You want a higher load R, which means less of a load.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has chosen to participate in this thread. I appreciate all your comments and insights. Every single one of them has given me a bit of perspective, and things to think about.

I may be rehashing a few things, but this is worth mentioning. In the past, almost every cartridge I owned worked well on phono stages that were designed for LOMC, and with on board load settings. Now there was a bit of time where I owned a rebuilt Denon 103M, which had a wickedly low output due to its non ferrous magnet structure, something along the lines of .11 mV. Now the Liberty could not deal with that kind of low input voltage, so I ran a SUT with Cinemag transformers, wired at a 1:16 or 18 load as I recall. Don’t quote me on that though, working from memory. The Denon came alive with the SUT in the front end, while my other cartridges showed minimal or no improvement when compared to running off the MC settings of the phono stage. That is my only direct experience with a SUT/MC combo, as I always bought phono stages capable of running LOMC cartridges, and the cartridges I have owned always seem to be best suited for that kind of component. So my understanding of load relationship between SUT versus an active phono stage is sketchy at best. And there are proponents of SUT who feel this is always the best, and yet others who feel that the transformers are inferior to an active circuit. Like anything in audio, there is no consensus.

This thread is getting bogged down in loading, and that certainly is an important subject. But the larger scope of the question I am trying to get at consists of "Is the table/arm/phono stage I am using a good way to go about setting up a Urushi?" I try to keep my system down to two tables, as I only run one system. In the past I have owned tables from Well Tempered, Teres, Townshend, Galibier, VPI, Thorens, Garrard, and one or two others. After an extended bout with refurbished idlers, to my surprise I discovered that I like those big studio era direct drive tables. So I currently own a Denon DP 75 with VPI plinth, and Acos GST 801 arm. The other table being a Technics SP 10 MK II in a multi density custom plinth, and Riggle 12" String Theory arm. My feeling is that the Denon/Acos combo should be adequate for the Urushi. So these are my thoughts:

The Urushi goes on the Denon/Acos.

The Acos tone arm cable is a bit of an unknown as I am not first owner of the table, heck its from 1980ish. So the tone arm cable gets replaced with an Analysis Plus Silver Oval.

The question then becomes which phono stage to use. The choice would probably be the Liberty as it is the superior of the two versus the internal one in the NuVista. But with the load settings available of 100/220/330/500/47K am I better off running a SUT? At the very worst a SUT could be transferred to the MF phono stage and run into its MM configuration for the second table.

Of course one question that has to be asked is alignment/VTF/VTA, and how good my skills are. I set up all my cartridges, and have passable skills, and believe I do a respectable job. Also the question of this Urushi has to be asked. It came from a reputable seller, the cartridge was serviced by VDH and has his label. But is a VDH serviced Urushi really representative of what the cartridge should be?

Now my funds are somewhat limited, and I do the best I can with my audio gear. Perhaps I am past my level of associated equipment with this cartridge. Perhaps I cannot do it justice. If so I need to come to terms with that and decide what a course of action is. I currently own a ZYX 4D, Ortofon Winfeld, and Denon 304. The Denon was supposed to be my beater cartridge, but it sounds far better then it has any right to. So the question of what steps to take to get down the path of analog bliss and have a long term relationship with the Urushi is ultimately what I am inquiring about. Thanks again for taking the time to read this, and I appreciate everyone’s insights.

I think if you re-read the posts above, you will find answers to at least some of your questions. (You seem to have added a few in this last post.)  Now that you have made it more clear that you prefer to use the Liberty phono stage, I suggest you use it as is, if it has enough gain to suit the Urushi.  Any of the possible choices of load resistance you mention would work just fine with the Urushi.  I will repeat that the load resistance really does not make a huge difference with an LOMC cartridge, but I would agree there ARE very subtle differences, more important to some listeners than to others.  I also mentioned that I have taken to using 47K for all my LOMC cartridges; this is not a religion, and I am just as happy with 100 ohms, albeit that load now sounds a tiny bit closed in at the upper frequency extremes, compared to 47K.  I know for a fact that if you measured the frequency response of the cartridge with 100R vs 47K, up to 20kHz, you would see absolutely no difference, however.  I also suggested (politely I hope) that you might want to try plugging your tonearm cable into the MC phono inputs of your Liberty and try different load Rs to find out what you prefer.  I have no dog in the fight about SUT vs no SUT.  I believe one should do as one likes in that regard.  There are theoretical reasons on either side of the argument.  I only say that IF you choose to use a SUT (and you seem to want someone to tell you to do that), then be sure to plug into the MM (low phono gain) inputs of the Liberty, assuming it provides such inputs, and be sure to set the load R at the phono input to 47K ohms, no lower.  But be aware that the presence of a SUT in the signal path will reduce the net impedance "seen" by the cartridge, probably to below 500 ohms. (See my post above for the calculation in relation to the turns ratio of the SUT.)  At one point you stated that you want to achieve a load >500 ohms; using a SUT is exactly how not to do that.

Alignment you have to do for yourself.  Or if you feel incapable of doing it, ask a friend or a dealer to do it for you. By all accounts the Acos GST801 is a very fine tonearm, as good as or better than any you are likely to be able to buy new for anywhere under $2000.  But I do not know its effective mass.  Someone else may be able to help.