Well Tempered Reference Arm and Koetsu Rosewood Signature Combination

The WTR in question was not mine. It belonged to a very close friend who lived in my area. He purchased it way back in the 90s for its list cost of nearly $10K. In his later years, he developed dementia. When his symptoms were still rather mild, I went to his house to help him mount a new cartridge. It was at this juncture that I noticed the problems with azimuth, excessive damping, etc. Prior to the onset of his illness, he was a very knowledgeable audiophile with an engineering background. I doubt that he mistreated the tonearm, but it is fair to say that I did not have continuing use of the WTR tonearm and so cannot say whether it was in tiptop operating status when I played with it. Sadly, I doubt that he ever got to use it again, even after I helped him with setting up his new cartridge that evening.

I should add that I "heard" the WTR many times at the home of my friend, over many years when he still had all his faculties.  He owned 6000 LPs.  My overall impression was that it made most LPs sound "good" or "pleasant". Perhaps this state of grace could be described as euphony.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade.  If you like the WT Reference tonearm, that's fine.  But I do take issue with the bit of propaganda put forth by WT to the effect that it has "no bearing".  Because it pivots, it MUST have a bearing, by the very definition of the word.  It's fair to say that it does have a very novel bearing, the likes of which is found nowhere else.  Whether that makes it a great bearing in terms of function is where I might disagree with its adherents.  Also, I am not including the Amadeus tonearm in my comments, because I never worked with an Amadeus.  On the Reference tonearm that I did use, the azimuth could be seen visually to change as the tonearm traversed the surface of the LP; I don't think that is desirable.  If that is not happening with yours, that's great.

I have a Koetsu Urushi which is a modern product of the company and therefore almost certainly was not made by the senior Sugano.  I like it a lot.  Since one can never hope to buy a Koetsu made by the father, why worry about the difference between the old and the new, at all?  I would judge the cartridges based on what they are now, and in doing so I would ignore the testimony of those who say the cartridges made by the elder are so wonderful.  A lot of cognoscenti seem to love the stone-bodied Koetsus, albeit they are very expensive.

Dear statman71, What is your question?  What are you thinking of changing, the tonearm or the cartridge?  My own opinion, which is just an opinion, is negative as regards the WT Reference tonearm.  My negative opinion is based on its tendency to change azimuth as it traverses the surface of an LP, because the bearing does not stabilize it in the left to right or right to left directions of rotation about the axis of the arm wand.  Also, it is heavily damped in the vertical direction of movement.  Perhaps the damping of tonearm is putting stress on the suspension of your Koetsu. So, if I were to want to keep the Koetsu, I would get a different tonearm. But if you are using the WT tonearm on a WT turntable, that may be easier said than done.  There are a few "surface mount" tonearms that might work, like a Dynavector DV505, Triplanar, or Reed.  None of those is cheap.

Mass vs compliance is a whole other thing.  You say nothing about issues with bass response, resonance, etc, so I assume the effective mass of the WT Ref tonearm is not a gross mismatch with the (low) compliance of the Koetsu.