Koetsu History
Named in honor of the Japanese artist Honami Koetsu, the company was started by Yoshiaki Sugano. A boxer, artist, sword maker and automotive executive, Sugano-san was a true renaissance man. His love of western classical music led him on a journey to improve the musicality of common phono cartridges. Through his experimentation he pioneered the use of high purity materials such as 6N copper and rare platinum iron magnets.
For more than thirty-years, Koetsu has masterfully blended the highest purity technical materials with ones of natural beauty to create the most sought after cartridges in the world. Sugano-San’s legacy is carried on by his son Fumihiko who apprenticed under his father to become a master cartridge maker. Every Koetsu cartridge is hand made in Japan and inherently limited in nature.
The pinnacle of cartridge design can be found in a Koetsu stone body. The body is machined from a block of high quality stone. Each block is carefully selected for natural grain and polished to a very fine finish.
Internally, only the most tightly matched silver sheathed copper coils and cores are used. Rare platinum magnets allow the stone body cartridges to fully create the ethereal sound on which Koetsu has earned its reputation.