In the market for a cartridge for Clearaudio Innovation Wood

@michkhol
I’ve run various flavors of Koetsu Platinum on my Clearaudio Innovation, for the 4 years I’ve had it. I think it’s a wonderful combination; incredibly musical with great resolution, great for all genres from classical to rock. Excited to be moving up to the Master Innovation very soon (with 12" Universal to compare to my current Phantom Supreme).

Currently running a freshly rebuilt Onyx Platinum, with a nearly new Coralstone in reserve. Also had an RSP on this table; also very good. And I’ve also run a Cadenza Bronze here, and it’s quite nice, but the Koetsu are obviously better and more enjoyable.

I got into Koetsu some years ago by hitting the used market to get into reasonable price brackets. It worked out well for me.

I've got a Dynavector xv-1s on my Innovation and like it a lot.  Its quick and clean with a good soundstage and  deep tight bass, .  Had an xx-2/2 which I also liked.  The xv-1s is just more of the same.  I can't compare them to a lot of other cartridges and everything is system dependent, but they are definitely worth exploring.

@mulveling 
Thanks! How is the bass with Koetsu? I've been looking at them but I read that they were good mostly for middle range. 

@michkhol 
Bass is quite satisfying and extended with any of the stone-body Platinum models; slightly less satisfying with the Rosewood Signature Platinum. That said, Koetsus doesn't have the bass thump/punch of a modern high-line Ortofon; my old Windfeld MC (and what I've heard in the A90 and Anna on other systems) had better bass than any Koetsu, but lost out big-time in mids and highs (much sweeter and more natural with Koetsu) -- hence my switch.

Lots of experience with the Innovation, but less so with that particular SME arm.

Keeping your budget in mind I can second the recommendation for the AMG Teatro which is a truly wonderful cartridge. It's become one of my go-to cartridges for an affordable, but high-performance moving coil.

Another good option is the Clearaudio Stradivari. It's a little more money, but I find it to have higher resolution and a little bit more dynamic snap than the AMG without giving up any warmth. If you can stretch to $5K then the Clearaudio DaVinci is one of my all-time favorites. It has most of the magic of the Goldfinger, but without the eye-popping price tag.

Having said all of that, I've absolutely fallen in love with the DS Audio DS002 Optical Cartridge. It's $5K and comes with its own dedicated phono stage (which is required), but I haven't been able to find anything that comes close in terms of performance without spending a lot of cash on cartridge and electronics.

I'm a dealer for all of these products so take these words with a grain of the appropriate seasoning. Having said that, if I were spending my money then I would do the DS Audio and not look back.