Getting a Koetsu Onyx cartridge rebuilt - help

Well, more than the body is reused in the Koetsu rebuild. The magnets are retained. I am not sure about the coil wires. Perhaps somebody out there knows the answer to that. I could email Melvin and ask him, I suppose.

I have never used Expert Stylus, probably because their lack of a website.

However, I have used SoundSmith on several of their top $350.00 rebuilds: Shelter 90x, Adcom SXC-VDH, and others. The characteristic sound of all those cartridges, after the rebuilds, changed. For the better? For the worse? I do not know. Just different. Perhaps better.

Based partly on those observations plus one personal experience, I would never have a Koetsu rebuilt by a 3rd party.

I bought a Koetsu RSP from an AG listing that I was well aware needed extensive rebuilding (the cantilever was severed in a TT dusting accident). I sent it to VDH through David Lewis Audio in PA (it is virtually impossible to contact VDH directly – at least for me it is).

VDH does excellent work. What I got back was a superb version of a high-end VDH cartridge in a Koetsu shell. Do not misunderstand: I love VDH cartridges and at this moment I am negotiating for a Colibri XGP (X coil + Gold wires + Plastic body = XGP).

Back to the RSP VDH rebuild: I contacted Melvin to see if he could persuade Koetsu Japan to restore the RSP to its former glory. The answer eventually came back as "No."

Finally, remember – if you plan to resell your Koetsu as you move up the ladder, a 3rd party rebuild has a severe negative effect upon resale value. Just check current AG listings for verification of this fact – it is an observable fact.

I was informed by Koetsu UK that everything but the body was discarded. That does'nt mean they are correct of course.

I think you are dealing with 2 groups of people here. Those who make the initial investment to buy a new unit and those, like me, who buy second hand. If you buy new, I can see that to preserve value, it is worth considering a Koetsu rebuild. Anything else seriously will damage resale value. For cheapskates like me, who bought both my RSP and current Onyx, second hand, the economics is quite different. I used my RSP for 3 years, heavily, had it retipped and sold it for what I paid for it. The Onyx cost me $800, it makes less sense then to spend several thousand dollars on a Koetsu rebuild.

It really would be interesting to have a kosher Koetsu and rebuilt model side by side, to hear the differences. I am sure they would be different. By the time you get your cartridge back after a 6 to 8 week rebuild, you can'nt really remember the origonal sound, to compare

It could be possible, that such a Koetsu - which is coming back from a independent re-tipper - will show better specs than those from Japan :-)

David12,

I cannot argue with your reasoning as I did the exact same thing. After buying a broken RSP from an AG listing, I sent it off to VDH for rebuild/retip. As you state, it was a bargain and I figured, "What the hell." It is not a very pretty cartridge in the first place. I know that is not supposed to matter, but it matters to me.

I like what I got back from VDH, it just was not a Koetsu. Maybe it was better - who knows? My Koetsu Sky Blue and Vermillion Urushi sound differently, but I do know if one is better than the other. The Vermillion is supposed to be better, but I do not know if that is true. The turquoise Blue color is really cool.

What I need now is to find somebody who really knows their way around the Van Den Hul line. Someone who has no financial interest in a sale nor an axe to grind. I need some advice.

In closing, I am not going to write any more on the Koetsu rebuild topic as I have no more to add. It was fun reading all the back and forth.

Hai bird dog .... i have a koetsu and a vd hul the condor only i damaged my condor just before i bought the koetsu, and changed appartments in the mean time so comparison is difficult

What i can say is that i think the vd hul delivers a little bit more detail(light tracker) and the urushi is wonderful with voices , i will have my condor checked here in holland by vd hull maybe its only a loose wire as the damaged occured using a to stiff needle brush, after that i make my definite claim ,both are very strong advocates of analogue , the colibri is also what i will buy in the future at one time .

greetings from holland