My recently acquired RSP was killed by a run in with a duster when I was out of town. Snapped the cantilever clean off. I called Music Direct (where it was purchased) to get it rebuilt by Koetsu. $4200. I called SoundSmith who has done hundreds of Koetsu repairs and now offer a boron cantilever, $450. This a log10 difference in price and I bet, not a log10 difference in sound pleasure. Yes, its not a Koetsu any more, yes its resale value just bit the dust, but I bet it will still sound amazing.
KOETSU ROSEWOOD DILEMMA
I have an old Koetsu Rosewood Longbody from long ago. It came with a Linn LP12/Ittok, so cost nothing. But it had no stylus, and I’ve never heard it.
The stylus was sheared clean off. Some colorful fuzz was left at the scene, and forensics showed it to be red and green woolen fibers. The culprit was a clumsy audiophile in a red-and-green sweater (Christmas colors, so maybe too much egg-nog) who snagged the diamond in his cuff.
Despite the violence, the cantilever is perfect — straight and true, with a beautifully beveled flat tip for seating the stone and setting SRA. It’s not hole-through, so probably was an adhesive-only bond. Coils are fine. Suspension seems fine — sitting on a stationary LP at the right VTF, it rides just right, not low nor high — and compliance feels in the right ballpark. All in all it’s very clean, and produces sound. There’s no erosion of the gold plating, so it may have been newish. 91447 is carved into the aluminum, and an “S” — does S indicate a “signature” model?
Is it worth retipping?
As you can see, I know nothing, so any suggestions are welcome, even negative ones, especially from those who know the cartridge, and have experience with retipping.
My intention now is to keep the boron rod and just add a diamond — it should be quite close to the original sound — but I’m open to change. Installing a new cantilever+stylus is easier and less expensive, but the resulting sound is an unknown, maybe better, maybe not, maybe not Koetsu. Why have a Koetsu if it doesn’t sound like one?
Stylus-type is an issue too. I can’t even find what the original stylus was, I believe a type of hyper-elliptical. I think a fancier cut would add detail but not alter the sound otherwise, but might be wrong.
So — as I know nothing, and my few ideas may be wrong, guidance is needed.
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- 53 posts total
- 53 posts total