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Thread: Which Ikeda 9 Cartridge is this?

  1. #11
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by CliveG View Post
    Found this on a 2012 thread on What's Best Audio and Video Forum:
    "I always thought the Kiwami was the "ultimate" version of the 9Rex and was intended for the domestic Japaneses market. The Japanese/Chinese character on the body of the Kiwami version literally means ultimate or summit"
    I have a copy of the February 1993 Stereophile magazine on its way which apparently carries a review of the cartridge.
    Gradually getting there. It's amazing how much information is out there if you persevere.
    Truly great find.

  2. #12
    Join Date: Mar 2016

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    I'm Clive.

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    Thanks Tom. Your wife's translation of the ideograph was pretty spot on.
    The Stereophile review was very positive as you would expect for a cart that cost $2500 in 1993. It confirmed the Kiwame as the top of the range, above the Rex or 'R' model. The manufacturer's recommended VTF is 1.5g unlike the 2.0g for the rest of the range and load impedance as 3 ohms. The reviewer did find that it responded well to higher VTF and load impedance.
    Having played around with various parameters I have now settled on 2g, 3 ohms and VTA with the top of the arm tube horizontal. I love how it presents the music, very enjoyable.

  3. #13
    Join Date: Jan 2009

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    Any chance of providing a link to the Stereophile review Clive?
    Barry

  4. #14
    Join Date: Mar 2016

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    I'm Clive.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry View Post
    Any chance of providing a link to the Stereophile review Clive?
    No, sorry, it's not on line, it's a hard copy of the magazine. If you pm me your email I will scan it for you.

  5. #15
    Join Date: Jan 2009

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    Quote Originally Posted by CliveG View Post
    No, sorry, it's not on line, it's a hard copy of the magazine. If you pm me your email I will scan it for you.
    Thanks Clive - that's very generous of you. I'll send you my e-mail address as a PM.

    You really have found a wonderful cartridge! What pre/SUT do you use and what impedance have you loaded the cartridge with?

    Out of curiousity I looked up Ikeda cartridges on vinylengine.com , and to my surprise ALL the cartridges listed were cantileverless designs. The most recent designs are not listed there and I think they now use a cantilever, but I was surprised to see 14 Ikeda canteleverless cartridge designs. https://www.vinylengine.com/cartridg...s=&prlo=&prhi=

    Cheers
    Barry
    Barry

  6. #16
    Join Date: Mar 2016

    Location: New Forest

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    I'm Clive.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry View Post
    What pre/SUT do you use and what impedance have you loaded the cartridge with?

    Out of curiousity I looked up Ikeda cartridges on vinylengine.com , and to my surprise ALL the cartridges listed were cantileverless designs. The most recent designs are not listed there and I think they now use a cantilever, but I was surprised to see 14 Ikeda canteleverless cartridge designs. https://www.vinylengine.com/cartridg...s=&prlo=&prhi=

    Cheers
    Barry
    I use the A23 Homage T1 which is designed to be a match for SPUs etc and is therefore somewhere in the region of the recommended 3 ohms and then into the MM input of the Giscours or the VIDA.
    My long term strategy is to downsize the system to one TT/arm combo with a small selection of cartridges with similar mass, compliance and impedance and yet sonically different. To date they were going to be SPU Gold Reference, Fidelity Research FR-7, Miyajima Zero and now I think I am going to have to add the Ikeda 9 Kiwame.
    It is amazing there were over 14 iterations of the design, and it would seem that the Kiwame was the end of the line before they produced the integrated headshell design.

  7. #17
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by CliveG View Post
    It is amazing there were over 14 iterations of the design, and it would seem that the Kiwame was the end of the line before they produced the integrated headshell design.
    As I understand it, there is no 'they', all of these cantileverless cartridges were hand built by Isamu Ikeda personally. Production was constrained for that reason.

  8. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    As I understand it, there is no 'they', all of these cantileverless cartridges were hand built by Isamu Ikeda personally. Production was constrained for that reason.
    So who makes the current range? Is it only Ikeda san? If it is, then that would explain the high price and limited availability.
    Barry

  9. #19
    montesquieu Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry View Post
    So who makes the current range? Is it only Ikeda san? If it is, then that would explain the high price and limited availability.
    Ikeda-san retired in 2011 in his late 80s and sold off Ikeda Sound Labs to the organisation that (as I understand it, from a Japanese cartridge vendor I was in contact with a few years back) used to manufacture the tonearms. They changed to a more conventional cartridge design (according to this bloke) because they no longer have access to the components required to make the old ones. He did a bit of promo for them as part of the handover deal and there are a couple of interviews on the web from 2011-2012.

    He also told me Ikeda-san had died not long after selling the company, I don't know if this is true or not it certainly wasn't reported anywhere in the English language web. If still alive he'd be in his mid-90s by now. You would have expected the hifi press to have picked it up though if this was the case.

  10. #20
    Join Date: Jan 2009

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    Quote Originally Posted by montesquieu View Post
    Ikeda-san retired in 2011 in his late 80s and sold off Ikeda Sound Labs to the organisation that (as I understand it, from a Japanese cartridge vendor I was in contact with a few years back) used to manufacture the tonearms. They changed to a more conventional cartridge design (according to this bloke) because they no longer have access to the components required to make the old ones. He did a bit of promo for them as part of the handover deal and there are a couple of interviews on the web from 2011-2012.

    He also told me Ikeda-san had died not long after selling the company, I don't know if this is true or not it certainly wasn't reported anywhere in the English language web. If still alive he'd be in his mid-90s by now. You would have expected the hifi press to have picked it up though if this was the case.
    Indeed - especially in any Western review of one of the current range of designs. Strange.
    Barry

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