Let me be the first 2025 contributor to this thread. Many years ago I got a used AQ 7000 cartridge. I ran it sparingly for a few years but it was just not performing well so in 2018 I sent It to Andy for service. Andy reported back that the cartridge had been serviced before as there was much extra epoxy which had gotten into the coil assembly and over one of the screws attaching the body cover. He was able to remove the epoxy and rebuild the cartridge. I was so impressed with the result. The performance was on the mellow side vs. the highly resolving Clearaudio Accurate I was also using. The frequency extremes had good coverage but the smoothness of the mids was something that kept me wanting to continue with the AQ, so much so that I ran this cartridge almost exclusively for 5+ years when it finally was showing signs of needing attention as by then it had 2000 or so hours of use.
In late 2023, I got a great deal on a Shelter Harmony in Japan. This replaced the AQ on the Shroeder Ref SQ arm. The Shelter was more bold, dynamic and detailed. I liked this a lot but I missed the midrange smoothness of the AQ. Andy had told me that the rebuilt AQ was much like a top Koetsu. I kept this in mind as I acquired a used Koetsu Onyx long body during the time I was playing the AQ. I knew the Koetsu was in need of service but the Shelter was sounding so good that I kept the Koetsu on the sidelines.
I then installed a second arm, a Shroeder LT, and moved the Shelter to that. It takes about 10 minutes to move a cartridge between the two Shroeder arms as they both use the same cartridge mounting plate. The LT arm showed me just what the Shelter was truly about, greater bass extension, much more energy on top, and greater body to instruments and vocals. But still, the AQ’s mid smoothness was not quite there. I realized what a killer bargain at $650 for Andy’s AQ service for all those years considering the amount of cleaning and repair to be done before applying the new cantilever and stylus.
The next logical step was to get the Koetsu serviced. I had a Koetsu Rosewood Signature years ago when the Clearaudio Accurate was my primary cartridge. I just could not get into the Koetsu RWS. Where was the bottom octave? Where were the top two octaves? The mids sounded glorious but without all the rest that the Clearaudio was bringing to the table, the RWS did nothing for me so I passed it on. Perhaps it was an incompatibility of the Graham 2.2 or Zeta arms at the time. I had read much about the Koetsu stone bodies being a very different presentation so all these years later, it was time to try.
For many years, the consensus in these forums for Koetsu service was to only have Koetsu do this. But this is no longer an option. There has also been much praise for the retip service in France and VAS for Koetsu service. But I decided to buck the system and work again with Andy. I sent him the Koetsu, the Clearaudio and a long time favorite, a Shinon Red, which got much random play time over the years. The Shinon’s structure was just barely above the LP during playback so I knew it needed attention as well.
I greatly appreciated Andy’s honesty when he told me that he could bring some life back to the Clearaudio, but he felt it was time to retire this. He was able to fix the Shinon (stylus and tube) and the Koetsu (new stylus and recondition the suspension). It was 8 days from time that I shipped to him and got everything back.
One last listen to the Shelter in the LT arm. Then it got moved to the Ref arm. Installed the Koetsu into the LT arm. I expected mediocre performance as I read that new cartridges need some break-in time. But the Shelter was outstanding right out of the box in late 2023. Well, so was the Koetsu! I expected compromised frequency extremes. This was not the case. This cartridge locked in with the LT arm. The bass was incredible. Outstanding detail and harmonics in the upper frequencies. But, it was the mid smoothness that impressed me so much. Once you hear all this harmonic structure compared to other very good cartridges, it’s tough to go back. I remember having a similar experience with the first Shinon I got in the mid 1980s. The Koetsu Onyx reminded me of the rebuilt AQ 7000’s magic but with so much more life and dynamics that I like about the Shelter. I have played 11 LPs in the last 3 nights since I installed the Koetsu.
For all those that say, if it’s not done by Koetsu, it’s no longer a Koetsu, well, I could not care less! What this does in the Shroeder LT arm is nothing less than spectacular. As for thinking about this action making this Koetsu not re-sellable, or at a loss, again, I could not care less. I never experienced phono playback like this so it’s staying with me until the end. All the praise of this cartridge, all the way back to the early 80s, is what I am now experiencing, and, in a vastly superior phono playback than what existed back then. As the Zanden 1200 phono stage does not have adjustable loading provision, I will play the Koetsu for a month or so and then I can try loading it, maybe start with 10K and see how that sounds and tweak or not accordingly.
Kudos to Andy for bringing this legendary cartridge back to life in just a week’s time. Very happy customer here.
John
