GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: The mystery of Koetsu Onyx Cartridges.

Post Subject: Koetsu coralPosted by mem916 on: 10/15/2011

Hi Romy,

Yes I would love to hear the same segment from your analog setup for comparison.   I think it would be very interesting even though there are so many variables that it probably doesn't tell me much in an absolute sense.

I don't really disagree with your opinion (and others opinions) about the Onyx. And honestly I don't have enough experience with competing cartridges to even disagree with people who say "all koetsu's are overhyped garbage". I have never had the resources or inclination to spend the time comparing cartridges. This summer I did try to compare the Jade to the Coralstone but A) the Coral wasn't broken in and B) by the time I could get the Jade set up and adjusted right I had started to forget what the Coral sounded like. To me the Coral was already sounding better but that could have been my "wishful thinking". I only have one tonearm on the Versa so its a real pain to compare cartridges.

So now after the Coral has broken in I can say that the sound I am getting is much much better than it was when I had the Jade in the system. But this doesn't mean anything in reality since I have changed other things too!   I have since sold the Jade so I can't go back and compare now.

The odd thing about Koetsu is that they claim there is no other difference between the Jade and the Coralstone besides the body itself.   It is hard to believe that the sound could be so different but it seems to be! Perhaps Onyx is just the "wrong" material to use?

Thanks for your time. I agree there is a lot of stuff thrown around without any really productive results. People get their pride and egos involved and get upset too easily, I think. Here I had a simple way to show that at least one Koetsu doesn't sound terrible.

Mark

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