I've been listening to a Shelter 501 MkII for about a year now. Not as full-bodied or as warm as my Grado Sonata, but quite a bit more detailed and transparent. Once I really got it dialed in, it's been great.
However, I've always wondered about a Koetsu, and had my eye on the Urushi Vermilion in particular, though it was out of my price range at $4700 new. I saw one that was never out of the box was on sale on Audiogon last fall, but I never bit as it was $3000.00, a good price, but still a bit too dear.
Last week though, another one showed up, and at just the right price. The seller was in Australia; it was too warm and rich sounding for his sensibilities and he decided to sell it. It was purchased by him from his dealer as a demo, and was very slightly used, with less than 400 hrs on it, and is in like-new condition. It's gorgeous with it's rosewood body and red Urushi lacquer applied.
Here are some more pix...
The famous Koetsu wooden box:
The unveiling (no pun intended):
Hand-lacquered rosewood....
I spent the evening setting it up, and it sounds wonderful, fuller and with more weight than the Shelter (which was always a little on the thin side compared to my Grado Ref Sonata), yet more detailed with markedly imaging, naturalness of timbre and harmonics and beautiful decay.
The irony is is it isn't even optimally loaded yet. The Vermilion is a low output MC, at 0.2mV and my EAR834 does not have enough gain from the transformers and less than optimal impedance loading.
A step-up transformer with optimal gain, impedance loading, and voltages for it from Bob's Transformers is on it's way via Priority Mail and I should have it up and running this week.
Then I should really be able to hear what it's capable of.
In meantime, it's nice rediscovering favorites once again.
However, I've always wondered about a Koetsu, and had my eye on the Urushi Vermilion in particular, though it was out of my price range at $4700 new. I saw one that was never out of the box was on sale on Audiogon last fall, but I never bit as it was $3000.00, a good price, but still a bit too dear.
Last week though, another one showed up, and at just the right price. The seller was in Australia; it was too warm and rich sounding for his sensibilities and he decided to sell it. It was purchased by him from his dealer as a demo, and was very slightly used, with less than 400 hrs on it, and is in like-new condition. It's gorgeous with it's rosewood body and red Urushi lacquer applied.
Here are some more pix...
The famous Koetsu wooden box:
The unveiling (no pun intended):
Hand-lacquered rosewood....
I spent the evening setting it up, and it sounds wonderful, fuller and with more weight than the Shelter (which was always a little on the thin side compared to my Grado Ref Sonata), yet more detailed with markedly imaging, naturalness of timbre and harmonics and beautiful decay.
The irony is is it isn't even optimally loaded yet. The Vermilion is a low output MC, at 0.2mV and my EAR834 does not have enough gain from the transformers and less than optimal impedance loading.
A step-up transformer with optimal gain, impedance loading, and voltages for it from Bob's Transformers is on it's way via Priority Mail and I should have it up and running this week.
Then I should really be able to hear what it's capable of.
In meantime, it's nice rediscovering favorites once again.
