Koetsu owners cartridge set up ?

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.

Lewm,

How are the Rosewood different than the Urushi ?
Now have a rosewood & thinking of Urushi down the line.
Which model of Urushi do you own ?

Noli

I think all Urushi's are the same, but I own the one that is black with gold flecks of paint on it (can't remember the Japanese name for that). The Vermillon (red) may sound different from the rest because reportedly it has different coils. At one point, I read that the blue Urushi has silver-wired coils but then it turned out it has silver-plated copper wire, like all the others, or so it was recently written. I have read all sorts of different assertions about what is inside the various different forms of the Urushi. All I know is that I am very fond of mine.

I have an Urushi Wajima, if a cartridge doesnt have extended highs you would have to see considerable loss of output higher up the frequency range, i reckon all the koetsus will stay within plus minus 0,5 dB over the range 2o hz 2o khz or maybe even smaller , i have not seen any measurements anywhere .

That's it. I think mine is a Tsugaru. The common belief of those who are not so fond of Koetsu cartridges is that they are lacking in the frequency extremes, highs and lows. Most listener's would agree that the midrange is sublime. I would take it for what it's worth, just someone else's opinion. The Urushi does not have the best bass response I have ever heard, but it is more than adequate. The high frequencies are silky nice. Others have written that the Urushi has a broader response with better definition from top to bottom than do the other Koetsus in its near price range, which would most likely include the Rosewood and Rosewood Signature. I am not qualified to judge, since I never heard a Rosewood, etc, in my own system. I am curious about the Platinum series. I asked the Japanese dealer from whom I bought my Urushi if he would send it back for rebuild as a Platinum, but he was not interested.