Koetsu Urushi: Blue Sky, Vermillion, Tsugaru

First of all, there are differences but I can never keep them straight, so I was reluctant to try to respond to your post for fear of mis-informing you. The differences are possibly in the types of magnets used, Alnico vs something else, but mostly in the wires used for the coils. I believe the Vermillion and/or the Sky Blue use silver-plated copper vs copper for the other variants. It's possible that the Sky blue uses pure silver. I use a Tsugaru (or Wajima?) and I love it. It's black with gold speckles, if that helps. The US and European prices are somewhat inflated by the importers and distributors, as is true for most other Japanese phono cartridges. If you are in Tokyo and willing to wait, you can get a good price. (Most Tokyo dealers don't stock them and they must be special ordered.)

I am just glad that I have a loving and loyal son who lives in Tokyo. That's how I solve the problem. But many Japanese cartridges sell for the exact same price in Tokyo as they do in the US, e.g., Lyra. I have never been able to figure that one out.

Warjarret, the more I think about it, the more I seem to recall that the Blue variant has pure silver coil wire, whereas the Vermillon has silver plated copper wiring. But this info should not be hard to verify. When I finally have to get my Urushi rebuilt, I am going to ask for the Platinum upgrade. They do not sell an "Urushi Platinum", but I think it's available on a rebuild.

"Urushi", I believe, refers to the art of lacquer application.
I recently saw a chart comparing the various versions of the Urushi. It seems to agree with what you say. Only the Vermillion is somewhat distinctive. I would buy the Blue, because I like blue. In terms of output, the Urushi is a "tweener". I am not sure it has quite enough output to drive just any MM phono stage, but it does not need much more gain than what is typical for such a stage. It seems popular to bash the Koetsu line these days, but the Urushi still gives me great pleasure, and I now own several other cartridges with which to make comparisons.

Dear Doug,
I don't get it, but I am not offended. Now that I have widened my horizons, I realize the Urushi is not the be-all and end-all. Since you are a UNIverse aficionado, it is not at all surprising that you would not care for Koetsus (assuming that was the intended message of your prose poem). I have never heard any other Koetsu, but the Urushi is not guilty of the myriad of shortcomings ascribed to the breed, only some of them. Nevertheless, I still hear a certain quality in the Urushi that causes me to keep it around. It sounds particularly terrific on my Kenwood L07D turntable, for some reason. It also helps that I was able to purchase it in Tokyo for a fraction of the list price everywhere outside Japan.

Dear Fjn04, Like most of us, I like what I have or what I have heard. I happen to have a Colibri, which is the yin to Koetsu Yang (or vice-versa), but I like it too. In a head to head, I might have to rank the Colibri above the Urushi. I also have an Ortofon MC7500, the grandfather of the MC A90. I still have not plumbed that one for all that it can probably do. I've been playing with MM/MI cartridges, too. The Azden 50VL is conceivably a better all around cartridge than many of the expensive MCs. I am very interested to hear the latest Transfiguration and Lyra cartridges, especially their mid-priced ones. Downunder makes a good point; when you combine the Urushi with a very good direct-drive turntable (like his P3 or my L07D), there is synergy.

I think Brinkmann now make two direct drive turntables, which they seem to sell right alongside their very excellent belt drive products. I have no idea which sounds best, and there has been sadly little mention of the fact that the Brinkmann products are even out there (at least in the English speaking audio press, perhaps not so in Germany).