KOETSU CARTRIDGES

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Postby keith » Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:45 am

jadis wrote:
m_shoe_maker wrote:Haneps ang Koetsu ah. 8)

Kung Lasalista ka, you can get the Jade. :)

Kung Atenista ka, you can get the Blue Lace. :)



The irony of it all is that the one who got the Jade was from Ateneo and the one who got the Blue Lace studied in La Salle Greenhills. :lol:


That means JackD should get both :twisted:
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Postby jadis » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:10 am

mullard88 wrote:Jadis,

My memory just stirred. remember how my wife thought that I was looking at a piece of cheese when she saw the picture of the coral that you e-mailed to me?



Yes, Mullard. And right now, I'm looking for a mouse who would pound on that piece of delicious cheese. :)
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Postby jadis » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:12 am

keith wrote:
jadis wrote:
m_shoe_maker wrote:Haneps ang Koetsu ah. 8)

Kung Lasalista ka, you can get the Jade. :)

Kung Atenista ka, you can get the Blue Lace. :)



The irony of it all is that the one who got the Jade was from Ateneo and the one who got the Blue Lace studied in La Salle Greenhills. :lol:


That means JackD should get both :twisted:



Or, he should get the pink cheese, to be neutral. :lol: And then he would be having his cheese and his gold too. :lol:
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Postby jadis » Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:17 am

For those who have not read Michael Fremer's Koetsu Urushi 'musing', here it is:

http://www.stereophile.com/phonocartrid ... index.html
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Postby JackD201 » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:45 am

Hindi ako nag UST bakit ako nag GOLD?
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Postby Jon Agner » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:51 am

Jadis,

browsing the old posts I suddenly recalled we were talking 'bout me getting the Black :lol: :lol: :lol: I think it was after listening to the blue lace that I decided to go one notch higher :D
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Postby jadis » Fri Nov 10, 2006 2:49 pm

Jon Agner wrote:Jadis,

browsing the old posts I suddenly recalled we were talking 'bout me getting the Black :lol: :lol: :lol: I think it was after listening to the blue lace that I decided to go one notch higher :D



that's quite true, jon. same thing happened to me.... after being 'tortured' ( that's the feeling of trying out something that you cannot afford to buy :lol: ) by the jade and the blue lace, i cannot help but opening up a rosewood signature for myself with the lame excuse that it is a demo unit..... when i took this task, i thought to myself i would be pretty darned happy with a rosewood standard.... lesson to myself: hwag magpa-torture....lesson to potential buyers and upgraders: by all means magpa-torture kayo....pero magandang klaseng torture ito... :lol:
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Postby m_shoe_maker » Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:10 pm

Pwede ba magpa demo ng Koetsu..... 3 weeks trial..... kung di pwede, bayaran ko 3 weeks rent :?:

Full line of Koetsu ha. :twisted: At rent of P1 per day lang ha. :twisted: :twisted:
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Postby Jon Agner » Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:15 pm

m_shoe_maker wrote:Pwede ba magpa demo ng Koetsu..... 3 weeks trial..... kung di pwede, bayaran ko 3 weeks rent :?:

Full line of Koetsu ha. :twisted: At rent of P1 per day lang ha. :twisted: :twisted:


Shoeme,

papawisan si Jadis niyan sa pag-iisip :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Postby jadis » Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:52 pm

m_shoe_maker wrote:Pwede ba magpa demo ng Koetsu..... 3 weeks trial..... kung di pwede, bayaran ko 3 weeks rent :?:

Full line of Koetsu ha. :twisted: At rent of P1 per day lang ha. :twisted: :twisted:



MSM,

Mag kape tayo bukas.... tapos mag wine..... pag di pa ako makapagbigay ng sagot..... mag - ano muna tayo..... :lol:
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Postby arnoldc » Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:17 pm

Akala ko makaka-post na ko sa thread na ito... hindi pa pala :oops:
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Postby m_shoe_maker » Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:29 pm

arnoldc wrote:Akala ko makaka-post na ko sa thread na ito... hindi pa pala :oops:


Bakit naman, its a free country. 8)
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Postby arnoldc » Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:30 pm

I wanted to post something based on experience
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Postby m_shoe_maker » Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:33 pm

Bad Experience ba or Good Experience :?:

Game na :!:

Dalawang bagay lang naman yan eh: :wink:

1. Paniniwalaan ka ng mga readers. 8) 8)

or

2. Di ka paniniwalaan ng mga readers. :evil: :evil:


But who cares diba :?: Ang importante, nailabas mo yung nasa damdamin mo. :D
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Postby arnoldc » Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:35 pm

eh hindi ko nga na experience eh :cry:
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Postby m_shoe_maker » Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:06 pm

Sayang :!: :(
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Postby mullard88 » Sat Nov 11, 2006 11:18 am

stereophile,

Perhaps the koetsu jade (and all the other stone models) is like a round trip ticket to visit Saint Peter.
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Postby jadis » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:48 pm

Found an old article written by Stig Bjorge, CEO of Lyra/Scantech, on the passing of Yoshiaki Sugano:

http://www.stereophile.com/news/11249/

Remembering Yoshiaki Sugano Bookmark and Share By Stig I. Bjorge

January 27, 2002 — The creator of Koetsu phono cartridges passed away on Sunday, January 20, 2002, just a couple of months short of reaching the age of 95. A wake was held in Chiba, Japan on January 22; the funeral took place on the following day.

A descendant of the Japanese medieval artist Honami Koetsu, Yoshiaki Sugano was brought up in a tradition of crafting swords. As a young man he practiced boxing, including participation in events in China. It is said that he never lost a fight. Later he joined automaker Toyota, where he rose to the rank of an executive in the domestic sales division. He retired from the auto industry at the age of 60.

Even while working at Toyota, he was fascinated by music reproduction in the home, and he took a special interest in phono cartridges, first studying and repairing broken samples of European imports, and later carefully examining Japanese efforts. Upon retiring from Toyota, he created his own Koetsu brand of moving-coil cartridges—the brand name is derived from his distant ancestor, to whom a temple is dedicated in the ancient Japanese city of Kyoto.

I first met Yoshiaki Sugano in the early 1980s. He welcomed me into his home, and I made repeated visits, which resulted in an article about his life and his work in audio, published in the Danish magazine High Fidelity in 1983. What fascinated me about his work with the Koetsu cartridges was his keen interest in high-purity materials, like 6-nines copper and 5-nines iron. He also introduced me to platinum-iron magnets, made in small quantities by a laboratory of the giant company Nippon Mining. He would then combine these high-tech materials with natural elements like wood and stone (eg, ebony and onyx) in a symphony that resulted in the rich, lush sound of each Koetsu cartridge. On certain models he would also apply the traditional "Urushi" laquers of Japan.

I think it is safe to say that Yoshiaki Sugano was the Master Craftsman who created the genre of true high-end phono cartridges. With the introduction of Koetsu cartridges, for the first time the status of a phono cartridge could be said to be similar to that of the finest musical instruments, like a Steinway grand piano or a Stradivarius violin. For years, while living within an hour's drive of Yoshiaki Sugano's home, I would listen to my Koetsu Wood cartridge on a Koetsu tonearm via a Koetsu step-up transformer, and a rich, transparent, musical sound was the order of the day.

Regularly I would visit the Master, and just as often as I would find him occupied with cartridge making. I would also find him busy working on his oil paintings, another major passion of this incredibly interesting personality, who had gone from sword-making to boxing, and then became a Toyota executive, before focusing his creative efforts on phono cartridge design and manufacturing. While painting, he often enjoyed listening to music of Christian choral performances, which set him in the right artistic mood for his brush strokes.

Another positive side of Yoshiaki Sugano was his willingness to share and teach. Rather than being secretive and protective, he would willingly share his ideas and know-how. In fact, he encouraged me to pursue a career in phono cartridge manufacturing myself. He introduced me to subcontractors manufacturing cartridge parts, and even let me have, at his cost, a stack of his valuable test records necessary for cartridge manufacturing. This led to a tremendous respect that allowed me to search for an alternative, a unique direction, rather than copying the Master. I humbly look at him as my mentor and teacher.

Participating in his wake last Tuesday, together with his family and his friends, made me contemplate his wonderful human qualities and his accomplishments, not only as a cartridge designer and craftsman, but as a whole human being.

Yoshiaki Sugano is survived by several children. His son Fumihiko Sugano was especially trained to take over the cartridge legacy from his father. The world's audio community is thus lucky to have a continuous supply of Koetsu cartridges today, even though the Grand Master himself has achieved eternal peace.

Stig I. Bjorge, CEO, Scan-Tech/Lyra, Tokyo, Japan
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Postby Jon Agner » Tue Oct 16, 2007 10:45 am

Phil,

to Add: Here's a stereophile article on the review of the new Koetsu black:

http://stereophile.com/phonocartridges/707koe/
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Postby jadis » Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:53 pm

Jon Agner wrote:Phil,

to Add: Here's a stereophile article on the review of the new Koetsu black:

http://stereophile.com/phonocartridges/707koe/



Thanks, Jon, BTW, in one of my Google searches, I saw a certain "Jon Agner" with a picture of a Koetsu Rosewood and a DIY turntable on a pbase server. IS THAT YOU???? :lol: :lol: :lol: 8)

( 21-gun salute to the 'craftsman', hwag lang 1812 cannons, baka
may bumigay ) :lol: :lol: :lol:
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