I want to keep this thread going because I think Koetsu buyers need some way to decide, besides just how their dealer wants to direct them. At the last CES, I asked the USA importer for Koetsu. He said all Koetsu Urushis are built EXACTLY the same way. Maybe in the past there were some coil material and magnet material differences, but not for many years. Only the Vermillion is a little different, by having two coils in parallel (per channel), fewer windings for lower output and different guage wire to keep the coil resistance identical to the other models. He said all models sound exactly the same, with the Vermillion offered for people that particularly want the lower output. The Vermillion requires a high-gain/low-noise MC stage or step-up, whereas the others work straight into most phono stages. So it is really just up to the buyer to choose his favorite color, in these beautiful lacquer finishes.
