koetsu rosewood signature vs. Blue urushi


I'm buying a rosewood sig but at the last minute am wondering whether it is worth the 1k difference to get the urushi. Anyone have bay experience with either of these
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xsamuelg
You have a great system!!!What happened to the Vermillion? Are you wanting to change to .4mV output? I loved my Urushi Black..........until I heard the PC-1 in my system, now I don't think I can go back!!!! I was going to re-tip the Urushi and possibly use it occasionally but I don't think I'll ever use it again!!! The improvement is worth the extra $$$ for the PC-1 (.6mV), just a suggestion given the quality of your system.
I have actually heard both side by side and to be honest, I couldn't hear the difference. I currently own the Rosewood Signature, and the Rosewood Signature Platinum. A close friend who lives nearby has the blue urishi. I just sold the vermillion urishi. I liked the vermillion a tad better than the Rosewood Signature and I like the RSP better than the Urishi. The RSP, the ZU 103R and the Shilabe are my current favorites. Short answer is that you can't go wrong with either. If you are getting them new. I would go for the Rosewood Signature and save the difference.
Is there a big difference between the Rosewood signature and the Rosewood signature platinum ?
For me, it made a difference, but not a significant one. I believe the difference can be attributed to the platinum magnets. The midrange was a tad better defined, but it is hard to justify the difference in cost. I could only tell the difference with a-b testing. I think if someone switched out the cartridge without me knowing, I would probably not notice it.
Yes, if you are buying it new. You will be pleased with it. But that is just for the Koetsu. There are a lot of other cartridges out there that are great and sell for less. For me, it is an adventure. I have lots of different cartridges. My current keepers are the Miyajima Shilabe, the Koetsu RSP, the Koetsu RS, the ZU-DL103R, the Denon 103R, The Shelter 901, the Accuphase AC-2, the Adcom Crosscoil SXC-VDH, The Dynavector Ruby Karat, and the Supex SD-900 MK-IV. I have heard lots of others. They all sound a bit different, but are all enjoyable. A lot has to do with the proper matching of the cartridge with the phono preamp, SUT, and tonearm combination. You can easily have a cartridge that on one setup sounds great and on another sounds not very good. That is why reviews are so hard. If you switch out just the cartridge, then you are comparing which cartridge sounds better in your system. That will be different for each system. The best reviews are when they compare a complete setup. There are a lot of biases on cartridges (or anything else) based on what they are matched with.
I agree Capnbob wholeheartedly.
Even when using different phono stage, the sound can vary from cart to cart, etc.
Wow, quite a bit of collection.
How do you compare the Shilabe & the Koetsu RSP ?
I ve heard few times the Shilabe & its quite a cart.
Hard to believe but I can't decide which I like better. There is no cartridge I have heard that compares with the midrange of the Koetsu. The Shilabe comes close but excels in the low and high frequency range. So, I have both currently mounted on different tonearms (both on JMW 12.7i arms) and I have been switching back and forth, depending on how I feel. Right now, the RSP is playing and there is no reason to switch it out. But I feel the same way when the Shilabe is playing.
Thanks for the advice. I have heard great things about the Air Tight. I just dont think it's in the budget
I'm going with the standard rosewood sig. I'll use the extra money for some nordost power cable. Capnbob. Are you in the sf bay area?
personally, I would go for a Koetsu over a Shilabe any day. the Shibale IMO just does not have enough action or get up and go.

the koetsu is all music
You also might want to consider a top vd hul cartridge , just because they are not in a "temporary audiofile hype" at the moment means they are not top class cartridges , i just compared the koetsu urushi wayima and the condor my expiriences are on my page .

And no i dont sell vd hul cartridges
Thanks for the follow up!!! What are your thoughts on the amounts of information delivered by the Vermillion @ .2mV verses the Blue @ .4mV ?
As far as i know is the output of all the urushis 0,4 , i would like to see some measurements from somebody on that , as there is no koetsu factory site
Andromedaaudio.

Go to needledoctor > phono cartridges > Koetsu > Urushi Sky Blue

You'll find the specs there!!!
http://www.needledoctor.com/Koetsu-Urushi-Sky-Blue-Phono-Cartridge?sc=2&category=376

Indeed and it says 0,4 for the sky blue .

The vermillion red specs from the needle doctor are contradictive , in the specs it says 0,2 and next to the picture it says :

The red-lacquered Urushi Vermillion uses a low-capacitance cantilever wand a Quadrahedron stylus. Its samarium-cobalt magnet and silver-clad six-nines copper coils produce an output of 0.4mV. Though it was "slightly polite on top" and lacked some air and space it's "rich and colorful" sound was never soggy or too romantic. The "artfully coded" Vermillion proved to be "one of a handful of most muscly engaging cartridges" in MF's experience.

If MF is michael fremer you now whom i trust , i ll check stereophile on the review .
I also asked another " well informed" source .

greetz hj
Indeed, its from the 2008 MF review.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/koetsu-urushi-mc-phono-cartridge-koetsu-urushi-vermillion-january-2008