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Koetsu owners cartridge set up ?

Hai, my first ever thread started on audiogon, champagne!!!

(joking) I m just curious how other koetsu users set up theirs .
Having owned it now for 3 months .
First having tried the 100 ohm setting on the nagra ,as the advice seems to be 30 ohms (not possible on the plp)but as there is no koetsu factory site im only guessing.
I now notice much improvement however as i set it to 1 kohm , more dynamics /precision /speed ,this was the same for the condor to which i listened a couple of years ,this was the advised setting for the condor though ,so no problem there, but as i got lower with condor i had the same problem.
Further i set the tracking weight to around 2 grams which seems to be average although i read 1.90 grams also a lot.
My arm is not level but raised a bit at the back.
andromedaaudio
nolitan
865 posts
 
1k ohm is actually 100 ohms in real life loading. That is the recommended loading for the koetsu. Although mine is at 150 ohms at the moment and i'm happy with it.
samhar
1,034 posts
 
When I used a Urushi Black with the XOno the settings were 475ohms, VTF 1.922 and the tail was lifted slightly. I also used it with a Joule OPS-1 @ 47kohms with a VTF 1.922 was the last setting, tried 1.863 - 1.960. I switched carts before the 1kohm resistors for the OPS-1 came, I think it would have sounded better at that loading.
franks
150 posts
 
I have a Koetsu jade. The ballpark starting point for loading a MC is 25 x resistance (5ohms) thus 125 ohms for a Koetsu.
I run mine at 500-1000 ohms. I tried 100 ohms and it was too closed in. I've also run it at 47 kohms but I think it sounds more organic below 1000 ohms.
I've noticed that people with good tube preamps tend to run them higher than with solid state. I think above 1000 ohms you lose some of the magic, IMHO.
VTF is set at 1.95 gms with the back of the cartridge very slightly down.
There's no one perfect set up. Try 100, 500, and 1000 and fine tune from there.
andromedaaudio OP
170 posts
 
Yeah i ve turned the weight down a little , 1.91 grams at the moment .
I dont know why people call it overly warm or slow i would call it realistic at least in my set up which is not very "bloomy" in the first place ,dynamics are also fine in my view.
lewm
6,770 posts
 
Andromedaaudio, I am notorious (in my own mind) for misreading other people's posts, but I don't see where you have specified which Koetsu you own. Among the "non"-Platinum non-stone-bodied Koetsus, I think the Urushi is unique in that it has better defined bass response and more extended highs than the rest. My point is that the Urushi might sound different from a Rosewood or Rosewood Signature, depending upon the load. I have always loaded my Urushi at 100 ohms and despite my now having been exposed to a number of other very good cartridges, I remain happy with it. The other guys have got me to thinking I should try 1000 ohms or slightly below, but I would bet that the Rosewood et al would be best with such a load. I did try 47K ohms with Urushi and found the sound a bit too thin and clinical for my tastes. This is with all-tube electronics driving ESL speakers.
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