Cartridge Renewal Due

[Rush2112]

Do Koetsu offer any trade in discount?

Hi Nigel,

Just waiting for a reply on a return to Koetsu rebuild.

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[Rush2112]

I have had a dealer offer me part exchange but then I could perhaps see if I can better that on e-bay etc,.

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[Rush2112]

So my Ortofon MC3000mk2 and Koetsu are up for sale, lets see what happens !

[Nigel]

Did Koetsu ever reply?

[Barry]

Yes - what have you decided to do Mark?

[Rush2112]

Yes - what have you decided to do Mark?

Hi Barry, still waiting on a reply from Lewis at KJ West One !

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[Rush2112]

My likely scenario's give or take a rebuild or selling the Ortofon and Koetsu are:

At the lower "cost" end it is either a Jasmine Audio Tiger or the new Hana Umami Blue, the Tiger I know punches well above its price point and expect the Blue will too.

Mid ground, like for like replacement (part ex, etc).

On the higher side a Micro Benz LP-S or Hana Umami Red or Jasmine Audio Dragon. The LP-S is regarded as punching well above its price point the Dragon too.

Sadly the Koetsu Urushi is out of reach at £4,999 ! This would for me be my ultimate cartridge and at a point where "diminishing returns" on a item (with a relatively short life) really kicks in !

[mikeyb]

Just get it retipped, my Black Goldline is retipped and I know at least 2 other people have said to me that it doesn't sound any different to the standard tip.

Is it now a Koetsu? Yes and No, but that will only be an issue if I ever came to sell it which knowing how it sounds won't happen. I'll just get it retipped again, damn site cheaper that replacing.

There are plenty technicians out there that can do the work, will it be any less skilled work than Koetsu can do, nope. If you want to retip it the with the same tip, what difference does it make who did it.

[AJSki2fly]

My likely scenario's give or take a rebuild or selling the Ortofon and Koetsu are:

At the lower "cost" end it is either a Jasmine Audio Tiger or the new Hana Umami Blue, the Tiger I know punches well above its price point and expect the Blue will too.

Mid ground, like for like replacement (part ex, etc).

On the higher side a Micro Benz LP-S or Hana Umami Red or Jasmine Audio Dragon. The LP-S is regarded as punching well above its price point the Dragon too.

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I have a Micro Benz LP-S and can vouch that it is a super, super cartridge, the difference between a cartridge like this say a £1K Hana, or Phasemation PP-200 or PP-300 is quite a leap (not that any of them are bad cartridges). I have tried the Hana SL and PP-300 at home.

Another thought you might want to consider a Phasemation PP-500 which at just under £2K is reported as an exceptionally good cartridge, and if anything like the PP-300 will be very good. The owner at "https://ammonite-audio.co.uk/" is a great chap and used to loan some cartridges out, so could be worth giving him a call.

I also have a Michel Cusis which is actually a Micro Benz Wood S(I believe) in a composite body made for Michel, this is also an excellent cartridge, not quite the same level of detail and refinement as the LP-S, I would say equivalent in SQ to a PP-300.

Not knowing what you have, another thing to consider is how good your phono stage amp is, if you enter the world of the +£2K cartridge, don't assume your phono stage will be up to the job, it will sound better but you might not get everything the cartridge can extract. I have used 4 phono stages with my LP-S and I was quite surprised at how detail I had been missing when I purchased the current one and also the same with on-board phono stage in my Krell pre-amp.

I got back into vinyl 8-9 years ago, and started out with a used Pro-Ject Experience II, Ortofon Rondo Blue MC and Camprbridge 540P phono amp from a friend all for £600, this has evolved into the vinyl replay set up that I have today, it cost in the order of £10K, that's Cartridge, Phono-cable, turntable and phono stage, a lot of money really, but you could easily spend 2 or 3 times that and not hear much improvement. I went through 2 other turntables, 2 arms and 4 phono stages. A friend uses an LP-S with SME 20/3, SME V arm, £1K of cable, and a £13.5K phono stage, if brought new about £30K outlay. IMO opinion it may only have very slightly more detail/depth, but it is very subjective. So it can be a slippery and expensive slope but if you get it right for your ears can be very rewarding.

One another note you mention 'on an item (with a relatively short life)', there is a great deal of pooh written about cartridge and stylus life IMO. I believe Ortofon say that a well cared for stylus that is regularly cleaned before playing records and is used on clean records should last at least 2000 hours or more, several other manufactures say similar. I know of several people who have sent cartridges off for inspection/re-tipping to manufacturers at around 1000 hours and they have just been returned being told that there is nothing wrong with stylus or cartridge. If you consider an LP is generally 40 minutes long then if 2000 hours use is the limit this is the equivalent of playing 3000 albums. So even playing 2 LPs a day, every day of the year it should a cartridge should be good for 4 years, which is not terrible. I suspect most people will struggle to play 500 LPs a year.

I hope my ramblings help a bit, vinyl replay is not easy to get right, as I found out.

[Rush2112]

Hi Adrian, Thanks for the cartridge advice, the Benz is certainly a strong possibility, I see it as competing well above my current Koetsu Rosewood and in the same arena as a Rosewood Signature or above based on reviewer comments. This would be the same story for the Jasmine Audio Dragon from reviewer comments, not sure where the Hana Umami Red then sits which at over £3k would be good to know.

I have no worries with my phono stage, already using a £2,500 cartridge and the Iota Audio Design Signature Reference is a dual mono fully balanced phono stage more than capable of being in the company of anything from Krell, Audio Research, EAR etc, costing several times more. Turntable is PT Anniversary SE with SME V arm, amplification is Krell KRC3 and FPB200c driving Martin Logan Electromotion X speakers and Sonus Faber Gravis subwoofer.

Life span of the cartridge is as you say more than most people realise, however, a Urushi at £4,995 would possibly be £1,250 a year, over £100 a month, so anything above £5,000 is, for me, just too much to consider as an acceptable cost for the gain in sound quality. The law of diminishing returns steps in.