KISEKI PURPLE NS your reviews....

Nobody knows who made the original Kiseki's. The mysterious
Mr. Fokadu is invented by Van den Dungen who wanted revenge
against the old Sugano san. Van den Dungen was then Koetsu
importer and was confronted with curious business practice
of Sugano. He wanted payment in advance but deed no feel
obliged to deliver ''the goods''. As one reviewer mentioned without 
knowing the reasons: (the blue)'' Kiseki is Koetsus killer''.
This was exactly the intention of Van den Dungen. By such lack
of information ''one'' is allowed to speculate. My is that Kondo-san
made those Kiseki's. He was good friend of Van den Dungen both
sharing the same obsession for tube amps. What is more
Kondo san made 3 SUT's for Van den Dungen. The ''silver kind''
is my secret info; the same as Kondo's for an fraction of the
price. Even the imaginary Mr. Fokadu is no more so the new
Kiseki's are made by someone else but with Benz parts. 
This may explain like by Van den Hul carts that so many are
offered as second hand. I owned all Kiseki kinds except Lapis
Lazuli. This include the rare ''black heart''. The ''poor man'' 
Lazuli. The same generator but without diamond cantilever
and expensive  jewel stone. BTW the latest made Kiseki.

Dear edgewear, Probably in order to add to the ''mystique'' of
the Lapis Lazuli there are no published technical specs. But
considering the fact(?) that ''black heart'' has the same generator
while there are specs for the ''black heart'' we may deduce to
''the same specs''. Your guess reg. 6ohms is correct. The stylus 
is line contact and VTF 1,-2.2 g.
The best repair service is by Dominic at Northwest Analogue in
UK but I never got any reaction from them. So I use ''Expert stylus''
UK instead. BTW there is also an silver version of the SUT with
both  low and high impedances : MCT -1 S improved. Very difficult
to find but ''one newer knows''. 

Dear edgewear, I need to first correct my VTF info. It is 1,6-2,2g
The output is 0,4 mV. I use 1,8 g for my blackheart. While Kiseki 
styli are polished by ''human hair'' those of Van den Hul are polished by Gyger in Swizerland. He designed the styli but Gyger  produced them.

Parrotbee, For the Lapis Lazuli some Italian ask 15000 euro;
for the Black Heart 5000 ( German ''audio-mark'') . I think edgewear
should not save on retip. His Lapis Lazuli deserve the best possible
retip.

andychris, ''Assumptions and conclusions''. Everyone start from
some assumption considered to be true and deduce form this
assumption his conclusions. However logic state: if the assumption
is not true, then also conclusions can't be true.
The MC kinds have the so called ''joint pipe'' in which cantilever/stylus 
combo is glued. This is part is also called ''moving
part'' connected with the generator with tension wire. 
You obviously confused MM kinds with MC kinds. By MM kinds one
need to ''cut'' original cantilever and glue the new one in the old
cantilever. That is not the case by MC kinds. One need to remove
the old cantilever from the joint pipe and glue the new one instead.
Those cantilever/styli combos are produced by suppliers not by
cart manufacturers. So one can see the same cantilever/stylus
combo by Benz LP-s as well by Lyra's Atlas. 
''The same'' does not always mean ''identical'' but in this case
one can state ''the same cantilevers/styli combos'' are produced
by two ''big jewel companies'' in Japan who supply all cart
manufacturers. This ''may'' lead to other conclusions then yours.

Dear edgewear, despite the fact(?) that I consider myself to
be well informed I had no idea that diamond cantilevers were
available. You wrote their price in euro's (1000) so I assume 
that in one of the ''euro-group'' countries those can be ordered
or retipped. Can you provide the address? I am willing to pay
1000 euro for my Black Heart because of the jubilant story of
our Aussie member about diamond cantilevers. BTW I also own
Sony XL 88 D (grin).

Andychris, While there hardly any standards by cart producers
I assume that they use the same ''joint pipe'''. This may be
caused by the jewel companies who produce ''standard'' 
(boron) cantilevers qua dimensions. So, actually, their job of
repair services is easy (earned) money (+/- 500 euro) for
gluing the ''combo'' in the joint pipe.  The only thing they need
to be careful with is the length of the cantilever and stylus
orientation . This, of course, is my assumption.

Addition, I just checked Namiki site and discovered for myself
 and to my disappointment that their diamond cantilever with
micro ridge stylus cost $ 2510. I am, alas, not capable  to 
''do it yourself'' retipping so need to add retiping cost. So my
initial enthusiasm soon died down. 

Well one can attribute all kinds of characters to the persons involved
or to the parts of the the cartridge involved. Regarding the last
mentioned kinds one need to realize that cantilevers/styli combos
are made by supplier to both; the cart producers as well repair
services. They all need to glue this part in the (aluminum) joint 
pipe on which also the coils are fastened. So if there are differences
in the ''art'' of the gluing the cantilevers in the joint pipe then one
should explain the '' árt differences'' and not declare other members
for stupid. This is to easy way out. 

Takeda san tested each  single Miyabi before delivery. This
may be called ''fine tuning''. An technician by Benz visited me
in Holland to collect my (then) Lurnes J-1 TT. He told me that
Lukaschek the designer &owner of Benz company tested
each of his LP-S before delivery. As far as I know Van den Hul
make just one cart per week in order to keep his ''finger skills''
in good condition. He owns 4 different companies  and spend
6 months per year in Ukraine by their aircraft industry which uses
his cables. The question who produces ''his'' other carts may
give the answer to their quality variations. I see many Van den
Huls on offer second hand. To me this means that many can judge
the quality of their carts. In addition the fact that many refuse to
 part  from their ''beloved samples'' explains why some carts are
so difficult to find. 
I had problem with my Kiseki Agaat. Very beautiful to see but,
alas, only one channel was working. I wrote to ''Durob'' hifi shop
to ask for advice but got, to my big surprise answer from Van
den Dungen ''himself''. To my even bigger surprise he offered to
me to post my Agaat together with his own Kieski's to some
Hungarian ''technician'' whom he trusted for repair of his own
Kiseki's.  To shout ''Heureka'' would be exaggeration of my 
intellect for my conclusion about the quality of those ''new 
Kiseki's'' (grin).