Words and photos by Rafe Arnott
It was futile to catalogue the array of thoughts that sped unfiltered through my mind when presented with a small wooden box following its removal from a 19th-century bank safe. I say this not because I was curious as to what it contained, but because I knew exactly what was inside: a Koetsu moving coil phono cartridge from Japan. Judging by the patina on the box, it was a rather old cartridge, and cracking the lid revealed an early '80s rectangular-bodied Koetsu Black. Once again I was surprised by my friend Clint Moroz. An astute collector of rarities, Moroz noticed my reaction and smiled. Tilting his head and shrugging in his offhand way he related he’d acquired the Koetsu along with a Thorens TD125 MKII turntable and some other gear at an estate sale five years previously.
While I'd spent time previously with modern Koetsu stone-bodied cartridges on fairly exotic turntables, I'd never heard a Black, so this wasn't an opportunity I could pass on (Not a review per se, but consider it an informed aside).
More like a character out of a Haruki Murakami novel than a real person, Koetsu’s founder Yoshiaki Sugano was known to be a sword maker and a boxer thought to have never lost a fight, this before apparently going down for the count in the executive trenches of mega corp Toyota for several decades. It was there that a fascination with the electro-mechanical playback of vinyl LPs took hold. Sugano-san regularly dissected broken European and Japanese moving-coil cartridges before continuing on with building his own designs following his retirement from the automaker in the late ‘60s. Naming his company after distant relative Honami Koetsu – a 17th century ceramic artist and calligrapher – Sugano crafted cartridges from rare stone and wood, always true to his own ear in their voicing. Early work consisted of an Onyx and Rosewood model before the introduction of the aforementioned lower-priced Black around 1980.
"Like many highly-coveted brands in high fidelity, Koetsu is simultaneously worshipped and held in contempt."
–Rafe Arnott
Photo above: Koetsu Black mounted on Technics headshell with vintage 6N copper cartridge leads.
Koetsu cartridges have developed a cult following for their unique musicality, harmonic resolution, timbral and tonal delicacy, poetic top ends and assured, solid bass. Endowed with exotic Boron cantilevers slotted to accommodate line contact diamond styli, magnetic elements comprised of Platinum-alloy or Samarium-Cobalt with Beryllium tension wire and windings of 6N copper or silver-clad copper, these were materials beyond unobtanium for cartridge production in the minds of audiophiles in the ’70s. As mentioned, the company’s initial offerings saw just three models comprised of a stone body (Onyx), a wood body (Rosewood) and the alloy-bodied Black. Over time (and since Sugano’s death in 2002 at the age of 94) several other exotic stone and Urushi-lacquered wood bodies have emerged under the leadership and cartridge building skills of his eldest son, Fumihiko. But, regardless of 50 years of artisanal heritage, like many highly-coveted brands in high fidelity, Koetsu is simultaneously worshipped and held in contempt.
Most practitioners of the hobby have never heard one, but that wouldn’t stop any from describing Koetsu in less than glowing terms, or in polar opposition, rabidly espousing their amazing qualities. Like every component of renown in hi-fi annals (and further exacerbated by the lack of information regarding anything to do with Koetsu production, or even specifications or loading), there are those who fret, uneasy with their acquisition because of vagaries or mythology surrounding a marque. With Koetsu, this usually comes down to some perceived lack of perfection in cartridge set up technique (What protractor to use? Baerwald? Stevenson? Chpratz?), or tonearm/headshell matching. While most dedicated owners tend to prefer high-mass tonearms to get the best out of their investment – it is rumoured Sugano used a version of the Fidelity Research FR 66 tonearm (12-inch) on a Garrard 401 for all his cartridge research, development and listening tests – Koetsu tend to live up to expectations attached to many tonearms, even 9-inch varieties.
Photo above: The Audio Note AN-S4L step up transformer.
I knew the stock tonearm on my Technics 1210GR wouldn’t be the best match for the Black (even with the Black's lower compliance when compared to other Koetsu), but was willing to set it up as best as one could. Experimentaion with a couple of heavy 40-year-old Sumiko and Dam Entre headshells proved unsuccesful with the stock tonearm. I ended up with vintage 6N copper leads swapped into a new Technics headshell and was rewarded with a lush, midrange, delicate, prismatic tonal and timbral bloom/decay and a sense of timelessness to each recording played. While the top and bottom end were not delivering on the cart’s full capabilities (which I’ve heard in other more Koetsu-optimized systems – read, a higher mass 12-inch arm, idler turntable), I nonetheless experienced more than a glimpse of what could be achieved with this Japanese sword maker’s 40-year-old creation. Was it as ballsy and weighty as a vintage Shure moving-magnet cartridge? No. Neither was it as linear and playful as a highly-spec’d vintage Audio Technica MM cart. Did it sound magical? Yes it did.
Paired with a silver-wired Audio Note AN-S4L step-up transformer and Audio Note AN-V silver phono cables, the combination produced an emotional connection to music in a unique, and what became highly-intoxicating manner. Is this sound for everyone? It depends. Like all things in high fidelity YMMV, or put another way, it’s completely subjective. As someone who loves the sound of low powered, single ended triode (SET) tube amplifiers in a system, who prefers high-efficiency loudspeakers and horns, who listens to vinyl and CDs mostly, and has a preference for vintage gear, the sound this Koetsu Black delivered was another sonic revelation on my modest system (there have been many already, and I trust there will be many more). It easily places instruments and vocalists in the room with a tangible, tactile and dynamic impact which one feels any lover of music would appreciate. If your goal in listening is to analyze every facet of reproduction, then perhaps this is not the cartridge for you. It plays music like real music is played; artists creating together as whole, in concert with one another and in a holistic, encompassing manner. This is a cartridge about eliciting emotions, not the mathematics of frequency response.
Photo above: If you find a vintage Koetsu, hold on tight.
If you find a vintage Koetsu falling into your hands as I did, or you’re able to source one for a good price (they can be found online in good nick for roughly $1,000 USD ~ $1,200 USD), and you have a reasonably compatible tonearm and SUT to pair with it (SUTs are not an exact science by any means), then it is worth one’s while to experience firsthand just what all the fuss has been about for the last 50+ years. Koetsu are still being made by hand in small batches in Japan for prices that reflect both the materials employed and the generational expertise required in producing such complex micro-instruments. Acquiring something used, or of antiquity in high-fidelity is always a gamble, but a worst-case scenario would involve sending it back to Koetsu for repair. A best case scenario is untold hours held in thrall as the stylus tracks the grooves of your record collection through time and space. Either way, in the final analysis you will become a member of a very exclusive club for whom objet d’art hold sway over hearts and minds.
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