Luscious Midrange, Beguiling Highs, Engaging Low-End Details, Life-Size Imaging

The first thing you'll notice about the striking Koetsu Onyx Platinum cartridge is the stone body, which is hand-cut from a high-quality block onyx hand-selected for its natural grain. This rare, unique element will tirelessly transport you to a premier seat to unforgettable performances every time you play a record. The Stereophile Class A Recommended Onyx Platinum's luscious midrange, stunning highs, involving lows, and life-size imaging capability give you unforgettable concert experiences without any of the hassle involved in getting to the music hall and dealing with any people around you – save those close friends you choose to invite into your room. If only every venue sounded so engaging and acoustically true. The very first Koetsu model to feature a non-wooden body, the hand-crafted Onyx Platinum boasts a discerningly fine-polished finish and a weight of 12 grams. Tightly matched coils and cores, tapped mounting holes exclusive to Onyx Platinum, and six-nines (99.9999% pure) copper wiring augment platinum-alloy magnets to crown a master cartridge worthy of the world's very finest music systems. The combination of a precious stone and precious metal seldom, if ever, sounded or looked so beautiful.

“All in all, the Koetsu Onyx Platinum communicated color, texture, touch, and musical nuance to an extent and in a combination that I’d never before heard.”
—Art Dudley, Stereophile, Class A Recommended Component

“Living with the Onyx Platinum for over a year, I am still just as smitten as I was the day it arrived for review. It’s easy to get caught up in the romance of any product, and living with cartridges at this level can be like courting a mate. Sometimes the initial excitement wears off. Not here.”
—Jeff Dorgay, TONEAudio

A Very Precious Stone
Koetsu owners don't ask why. They just know. We could wax all day long about likeminded comparisons to these exquisite, handmade, ultra-exclusive cartridges. Similarities to collector automobiles, limited-batch scotches, and sought-after luxury goods ranging from super-complication watches to perfect-cut diamonds spring to mind. Like each Koetsu, these choice articles ignite our deepest passions and inspire within us emotion, enthusiasm, and excitement that nothing else comes close to matching.

Ease, Liquidity, Clarity, Responsiveness, and Focus
Koetsu cartridges don't require any fancy promotion or exaggerated typecasting. They stand alone for what they represent: The zenith of analog sound. These reverential musical instruments are all about musical transcendence and transformation. Indeed, while some listeners will inevitably demand how Koetsu justifies its pricing, our reply is simple: Once you listen, you'll hear and understand everything. Questions and doubts immediately melt away. All that's left behind is music distinguished with utmost ease, liquidity, vibrancy, clarity, responsiveness, and focus. The kind that leaves you wondering just how much detail, information, and texture you've missed on records you've heard hundreds of times.

Hand-Built to Perfection Since the 1970s
Founded in the 1970s by Yoshiaki Sugano – a multi-skilled boxer, sword maker, painter, metallurgist, and Toyota executive that held a special love for hi-fi audio – and named after Honami Koetsu, a 17th-century Japanese artist and calligrapher, Koetsu prizes tradition, purity, and perfection. A direct descendant of the medieval Koetsu, Sugano demanded his cantilevers be built of a "special" iron custom-made by a northern Japanese university that used a secret process. After receiving pre-aged rubber suspensions and rosewood bodies from other craftsman, Sugano painstakingly hand-built each cartridge in the same manner a legendary violin maker obsesses over a wood's finite grain and age. Koetsu cartridges stood out not only for their transparent sound and exotic materials, but for their elegant appearance. Today, Sugano's son, Fumihiko, carries on the proud legacy.

Specifications:

Body: Onyx
Type: moving coil
Coil wiring: silver-plated copper
Magnet: platinum
Cantilever: boron
Output: .3mV
Frequency range: 20Hz-100kHz
Channel separation: 25dB/1kHz
Inner impedance: 5 ohms
Channel balance: .5dB/1kHz
Recommended impedance: 30 ohms
Weight: 12.5g
Compliance: 5x10-6cm/dyne at 100Hz
Recommended Tracking Force: 1.8-2.0g
Recommended Load: 80-1,000 Ohms