Getting a Koetsu Onyx cartridge rebuilt - help

Andromedaaudio,

Since you live in the Netherlands, do you know much about VDG cartridges? I am looking at a clear body Colibri XGP listed on AudioGon. I have never seen a clear plastic body Colibri - just black plastic or metal. I have seen the myrtle wood bodies as well. But, I have never seen clear plastic.

I agree. Looking for a LO - .22mv output or close to that. It is too late for me to get the clear body, and all the XGM & XGP Colibri's currrently lised on AG are HO - .45 & .65.

I will try to Google the leads you sent me.

Thank you.

Found them both. HighEnd Broker has a LO XGP Reference Colibri. I have never heard of a "Reference" model in the Colibri line. I plan to contact both dealers this weekend.

Thank you for the leads.

Melvin Ang has arranged the rebuild of several of my late Father's Koetsu Stones. He is personal friends with the family and hand delivers them to the factory. His prices are much lower than Axiss Audio who is the official Koetsu USA rebuild broker.

Also, a less known fact is that you may have your cartridges upgraded to platinum status or spring for the diamond cantilever.

Having 3rd parties retip your Koetsu has a high negative impact on resale value. Just check the AG listings that are selling 3rd party rebuilds of Koetsu's.

Finally, Koetsu will not touch a Koetsu cartridge that has been worked on by 3rd parties no matter how reputable. I found out the hard way.

Well, more than the body is reused in the Koetsu rebuild. The magnets are retained. I am not sure about the coil wires. Perhaps somebody out there knows the answer to that. I could email Melvin and ask him, I suppose.

I have never used Expert Stylus, probably because their lack of a website.

However, I have used SoundSmith on several of their top $350.00 rebuilds: Shelter 90x, Adcom SXC-VDH, and others. The characteristic sound of all those cartridges, after the rebuilds, changed. For the better? For the worse? I do not know. Just different. Perhaps better.

Based partly on those observations plus one personal experience, I would never have a Koetsu rebuilt by a 3rd party.

I bought a Koetsu RSP from an AG listing that I was well aware needed extensive rebuilding (the cantilever was severed in a TT dusting accident). I sent it to VDH through David Lewis Audio in PA (it is virtually impossible to contact VDH directly – at least for me it is).

VDH does excellent work. What I got back was a superb version of a high-end VDH cartridge in a Koetsu shell. Do not misunderstand: I love VDH cartridges and at this moment I am negotiating for a Colibri XGP (X coil + Gold wires + Plastic body = XGP).

Back to the RSP VDH rebuild: I contacted Melvin to see if he could persuade Koetsu Japan to restore the RSP to its former glory. The answer eventually came back as "No."

Finally, remember – if you plan to resell your Koetsu as you move up the ladder, a 3rd party rebuild has a severe negative effect upon resale value. Just check current AG listings for verification of this fact – it is an observable fact.

David12,

I cannot argue with your reasoning as I did the exact same thing. After buying a broken RSP from an AG listing, I sent it off to VDH for rebuild/retip. As you state, it was a bargain and I figured, "What the hell." It is not a very pretty cartridge in the first place. I know that is not supposed to matter, but it matters to me.

I like what I got back from VDH, it just was not a Koetsu. Maybe it was better - who knows? My Koetsu Sky Blue and Vermillion Urushi sound differently, but I do know if one is better than the other. The Vermillion is supposed to be better, but I do not know if that is true. The turquoise Blue color is really cool.

What I need now is to find somebody who really knows their way around the Van Den Hul line. Someone who has no financial interest in a sale nor an axe to grind. I need some advice.

In closing, I am not going to write any more on the Koetsu rebuild topic as I have no more to add. It was fun reading all the back and forth.

Well, after all that, I have just sent a used Koetsu Vermillion and a used VDH Colibri XGM to Expert Stylus in Surrey, England for the following:

The Koetsu Vermillion: Complete suspensions rebuild, sapphire cantilever, Paratrace stylus.

The VDH Colibri: Reducing the output from .45mv to .22-.23mv, suspension tweak, sapphire cantilever, Paratrace stylus.