Koetsu cartridges. They must be something special.

But I refuse to believe a magnet has a "sound". The magnet has an effect determined by its properties as a magnet in combination with the properties of the coils and its mass (of the magnet). The coil does not know it is being affected by a platinum magnet; it only knows the strength of the magnetic field surrounding it. I know there are mystiques surrounding the use of samarium cobalt or platinum or neodynium or other magnetizable metals (alnico?) in MC cartridges, but what is the possible mechanism, other than the above, mass, field strength, and geometry (meaning how the magnet and coil are placed in space)? Can someone ’splain me? Anyway, Koetsu cartridges are a matter of taste, as is the choice of any cartridge brand. They used to be characterized as warm and "musical" or rich sounding but some said of the Rosewood series that they were lacking in low bass and high treble. The Rosewood Signature Platinum was said to have corrected that issue with bass and treble, at the expense of having a much lower signal voltage output; I never heard one. Then came later wood bodied models like the various Urushi models and still later the stone bodied models, among which there are additional sonic differences. I have an Urushi and like it very much, but maybe it is not my very favorite LOMC cartridge. Nevertheless it is definitely not lacking in bass and treble response. I’d like to own a stone-bodied model but was unwilling to fork over the moolah. I own about 6-7 other LOMC cartridges, so the Urushi is just one in my stable. Anyway, it is impossible to disagree with Inna when he writes, "It seems that quite a number of Audiogoners have Koetsu, or a few of them." That sentence has its own escape clause.

Koetsu is special indeed! it’s on my hunting list..

https://medialux.blog/2019/07/07/the-koetsu-story-japanese-art-part-1/

https://medialux.blog/2019/07/08/4-koetsu-compared-japanese-art-part-ii/

@larryi 

+1 Nailed it. This is why I own a Koetsu Rosewood Signature. My dealer bought several when he found out they were closing down shop. 

@Lewm wrote: " "It seems that quite a number of Audiogoners have Koetsu, or a few of them." That sentence has its own escape clause."

I read Inna's statement to mean that Koetsu are popular among participants and some have several of them. 

I own two stones- a Jade- which sounded great out of the box, and a Tiger Eye, which was a bit strident for the first thirty or so hours. Both a tad tail down (I can do VTA on the fly but don't mess with it much once dialed in, except for an extraordinarily thick or thin record- most of what I listen to is pretty standard old pressings from the nadir of vinyl- the '70s) and loaded at 100 ohms. The bass has dimension, tone and a filled-in quality that my system seemed to lack with other high end cartridges. It may be a synergy with the arm- an Airline, which really seems to like a low compliance cartridge.