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Sent my Koetsu Black to VAS to be repaired. Chose it over a new cart or new DAC, and am confident in my choice.

Godataloss

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I have compared the Red and the Bronze, I have them both, although I haven't swapped their styli. I bought the Red quite a long time ago, as it got really good reviews when it was first introduced and, I figured, for the price why not take a chance?. But the Red didn't last long before being replaced by the Bronze. By comparison to the Ortofon X-3 I was using at the time I found it to be harsh and thin-sounding. I could have bought a Blue stylus to upgrade the Red but, not willing to take the chance that a stylus upgrade might not effect a significant change, I just went ahead and bought the Bronze. I have it mounted on a Dual CS5000 and still use it quite a bit, especially when I'm being lazy and/or busy with something and want to hear a record without worrying that I won't be able to lift the tonearm at the end.

The CS5000 has a replaceable headshell and I have a number of cartridges mounted on spare headshells, including a Signet TK7E, a Signet TK7Ea as well as the 2M Red and 2M Bronze. Of those, I would definitely choose the Bronze. I have that table in the same system as a another table that I have used the VAS Nova Signature in - to return to the original subject of this thread (finally!! - to the OP, sorry for the long digressions). As one would expect, the VAS Nova is in another world from the 2M series. I am pretty confident that, if Steve Leung's retip of the Koetsu is of a similar quality to his cartridges, the OP will be very happy with the result.
You've never tried the Bronze on the Red body? Get to it man!
 
OP
drewdawg999

drewdawg999

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Have about 27 hours on the new stylus now, so almost broken in, and things are sounding mighty fine. Surface noise is getting less and less and detail and clarity are getting more and more. The great thing is it's making my average vinyl copies sound fantastic, a huge plus. Exile on Main Street has loads of detail, not something the album is known for. Vocals are smooth and midrange lush, with electric guitars sounding delicious. My Sticky Fingers also sounds very nice, where I remember before the surface noise bothered me, now not so much. Drums and percussion sound very convincing, and a deep round driving bass. These two albums are two of my favorites, the Stones at their very peak. And with another favorite, Dark Side by Floyd, I could easily tell the difference between pressings, and found the 30th Anniversary copy to have much more detail than an old Harvest pressing, which sounded okay but not the best.

I measured the RPM using my phone and found the Michell Gyro SE was running a tad slow at 32.7. I had to open the stock PSU up, just needed to remove 4 screws, and then the speed control trimpot is readily available and easy to adjust. Got it to 33.4 rpm, a touch fast to account for stylus drag. Wow and flutter I got 0.17%, not bad for a belt drive where Michell recently have been having trouble sourcing decent belts, so they started manufacturing them in house. Maybe I can look into getting a newer belt straight from Michell. It's not terribly steady though, but passable, and it passed my piano realism and weight test, which I'm pretty picky about. One of my best records, Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby, sounds incredible now, very lifelike. The interaction between such easily separated instruments is beguiling, with incredibly realistic drums and bass that possessed a texture you could reach out and touch. Transports you right into a NY jazz club of the '60's.

A user on another site expressed concern that my cart and arm were horribly mismatched. I looked it up on Vinyl Engine's resonance calculator, using 14 cu for compliance at 10 Hz, and an effective mass for the arm of 12.5g (the listed mass on Michell's website for the Tecnoarm 2). And using a cartridge mass plus mounting hardware of 10g, I was squarely in the green with a resonant frequency of 9 Hz. He said that calculator was wrong, that I needed a decent test record to really know. I might need a test record but I have a hard time believing the calculator is wrong. He suggested I switch cartridges to a Lyra or Dynavector. Or try the Koetsu with an SME 3009. Negative on either of those options, I'm pretty much married to my setup at this point, and not enough funds to upgrade the tonearm and get the necessary armboard. Definitely not enough funds to get the Lyra I really want.

I'm very happy with the sound I'm getting and have felt no need to listen to any other source, including my hot-rodded Rega P3. Also much more involving than my DAP, the Surfans F20, which has a nice TI Burr Brown DAC. I tried my DSD copy of Steely Dan's Pretzel Logic and it just wasn't cutting it. Not as much presence, not as alive, not as enjoyable. My vinyl copy in excellent condition that I got for a quarter at a thrift shop was sounding wonderful and trouncing the digital. I'm happy with the service I got from VAS, would do it again despite the long wait and it not being all that cheap.
 

deniall83

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A user on another site expressed concern that my cart and arm were horribly mismatched. I looked it up on Vinyl Engine's resonance calculator, using 14 cu for compliance at 10 Hz, and an effective mass for the arm of 12.5g (the listed mass on Michell's website for the Tecnoarm 2). And using a cartridge mass plus mounting hardware of 10g, I was squarely in the green with a resonant frequency of 9 Hz. He said that calculator was wrong, that I needed a decent test record to really know. I might need a test record but I have a hard time believing the calculator is wrong. He suggested I switch cartridges to a Lyra or Dynavector. Or try the Koetsu with an SME 3009. Negative on either of those options, I'm pretty much married to my setup at this point, and not enough funds to upgrade the tonearm and get the necessary armboard. Definitely not enough funds to get the Lyra I really want.
Your cartridge hardware weights 10g? Almost as much as your cart? Mine weighs like 1g.

This is what I got when I converted the Compliance from 100 Hz to 10 Hz and added 1g for hardware.

1649322166664.png
 
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OP
drewdawg999

drewdawg999

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Your cartridge hardware weights 10g? Almost as much as your cart? Mine weighs like 1g.

This is what I got when I converted the Compliance from 100 Hz to 10 Hz and added 1g for hardware.

View attachment 198220

No, I meant total 10g. Cart weighs 9g + 1g for mounting hardware. This is an old Koetsu Black I believe from the '90s that says Musashino Labs on it, so compliance is higher than the Goldline. There's numbers from the Vinyl Engine database, though it says wood body and mine is aluminum. Not sure how accurate those numbers are though, whether or not it's at 100 Hz or 10 Hz. It's all approximate but it still seems to be within resonant frequency of 9-11 Hz.
 

deniall83

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No, I meant total 10g. Cart weighs 9g + 1g for mounting hardware. This is an old Koetsu Black I believe from the '90s that says Musashino Labs on it, so compliance is higher than the Goldline. There's numbers from the Vinyl Engine database, though it says wood body and mine is aluminum. Not sure how accurate those numbers are though, whether or not it's at 100 Hz or 10 Hz. It's all approximate but it still seems to be within resonant frequency of 9-11 Hz.
Ah interesting! I think either way, you're where you want to be in regard to resonance.
 
OP
drewdawg999

drewdawg999

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Snapped these today of my sexy transducer in action.
20220511_164921.jpg

20220511_164825.jpg


Sound has reached a plateau of absolutely awesome. The combo of Koetsu Black with Michell Gyro SE is mighty fine I find, and not inconsequentially looks beautiful as well.
 

EJ3

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No, that's the fireplace in the living room. No use for warm fires in hot and sunny SoCal though. I like how there's no TV there:
View attachment 206227
It's been about 4 years since I have owned a TV (I play my oppo 205 UHD through a borrowed 4K TV). But I foresee getting one in a couple of months, when my wife & I move into the home I am restoring/modifying for us. Then we'll need an antenna & some sort of streaming box.
 

Angsty

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VAS Inc. in NJ seems to do great work, and trustworthy to send my precious Koetsu Black for microsurgery. Much less waiting time than Soundsmith, and less red tape to cut through.
I sent a Hana ML to Steve last month for a retip. Top notch retip, as expected. Can’t recommend him enough.
 
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