Behind the Lens

REVIEW
A RARE JEWEL INDEED
The Koetsu
Onyx Platinum
By Jeff Dorgay
Mounting a $10,000 phono cartridge gives you
a bit of respect for surgeons: one slip and
kaboom! All that craftsmanship down the
drain. But the effort is worth it. Once mounted,
moving a smidge here, a smidge there and
back a molecule at a time until your vision of
setup perfection is reached, and then analog
bliss occurs. It certainly does with the $9,995 Koetsu Onyx
Platinum phono cartridge.
The entry level Koetsu sound of the Black is very warm
and forgiving, almost like a vintage Grado, but as you move
up the range, each model provides a higher level of depth,
dynamics and low-level resolution, never losing the gentleness
through the midband that makes these cartridges an object
of desire around the world. The Onyx Platinum is nearly the
pinnacle of the Koetsu line.
154 TONE AUDIO NO.75
November 2015 155