Koetsu Urushi: Blue Sky, Vermillion, Tsugaru

I asked a similar question and got a similarly vague reply recently. I doubt that many have heard the different Urushi's. I had a Rosewood Signature that I loved, so do'nt listen to anyone saying you should avoid them, not directed at you Axel.
HiFiCritic, the ultra expensive, no adverts UK magazine recently did a Cartridge bake off and the Sky Blue Urushi won handsomly. Mind you, it was the most expensive.
If you are interested there are a couple of Urushi's on sale now on the Gon, for quite good prices. That is the only way I would get back into Koetsu, I could'nt afford new.

Lewm: Prices, do'nt get me started. I can simply not understand price differentials in imported cartridges in particular. You think Koetsu is expensive in the US. A couple of years ago we paid the same number of £'s as you would in $'s for a Koetsu. That at a time when the $ was 1.8 to the £, a simply crazy difference. Both countries were importing from Japan, for goodness sake. At the time I wrote a long letter to HiFi+ about it and got a front page 3 page reply from Gregory, saying the difference was perfectly reasonable. You can easily see whose side the magazines are on and it's not the reader.

Then take the Benz line, we seem to pay about 40% less in the UK. I bought a new LP cartridge for about $2200 recently. What is it in the US, $3500? Can anyone even begin to justify these price differences? Perhaps it's shipping costs, they are pretty heavy!

FJn04
I use an onyx at the moment and just love the Koetsu sound. I also have a Benz Micro LP, which is different but on the same warm side of neutral as the Koetsu's. The Zxy Airy 3 I had before was cold and dry in comparison, IMHO. I know others love Zyx.
I would look at Benz then, but I know they are more costly in the US than they are in the UK. Mine cost me about $2000.