JICO

Seto-Hori Remodel

By: Michael Fremer

November 29th, 2023

Category:

Cartridges

Listen to JICO's Seto-Hori Remodel HO MC cartridge on the Technics SL-1200GR2

listen with and without step up transformer

In the SL-1200GR2 review I said I'd produce this video so you could hear the Seto-Hori Remodel and the turntable, so here it is. Plus the video shows the incredible packaging. It even sounds good on computer speakers. I'm not sure who will spend $4000 on a cartridge and put it in a $2199 turntable but this demonstrates that the 'table can do the job on most any cartridge you choose to use with it and produce excellent sound.

You can read more about it on the JICO website

Specifications

Lead Wire:
The lead wire of the cartridge is made by Koike Analog Factory.
The positive side of the 29mm lead wire is Oyaide 102SSC 0.28mm 3-pair set.
The negative side is a Hitachi OFC 0.18mm 8-pair set.

[SETO-HORI REMODEL Product Specifications] Model: MC
Impedance: 130Ω / 1kHz
Output voltage: 2.0mV / 1kHz
Output balance: <1.5dB / 1kHz
Channel separation: 25dB / 1kHz
Stylus pressure: 2 ± 0.2 g
Frequency characteristics: 15-32,000Hz
Load resistance: 47KΩ
DC resistance: 130Ω
Cantilever: Boron
Stylus tip: Microridge
Static compliance: 18 × 10-6cm / dyne
Dynamic compliance: 10 × 10-6cm / dyne
Right angle tracking angle: 26 °
Tracking ability: 70μm / 2gr
Mass: Approximately 27.5g
Cartridge housing: Ceramic (Seto)
Head shell: Completely machined aluminum + copper alloy
Lead wire: 29 mm long
+ 102SSC 0.28mm × 3
– LCOFC 0.18mm x 8

Cartridge
Pottery body : Kenichi Yoshihashi (M.M.Yoshihashi)
Sintering : Hisako Ito (Kaneko Kohyo Pottery Manufacturing Co.,Ltd.)

MC Engine Director : Kazunori Maeda (JICO Vice President)
Stylus Assemble : Takao Oku (JICO Manager)

Headshell
3D Design : T.Tanigawa (TNRD)
5-Axis Control Machining : Isamu Sugita (Kanto Seimitu Co.,Ltd)
Machining Programing : Kohei Kato (Kanto Seimitu Co.,Ltd)
Lead Wire SETO-HORI Custom : Y. Koike (Koike Analog Factory)

Product Assembling : Takao Oku (JICO Manager)
Wood Case Design : Kazuhiro. Nishimura (Heso Labo)

Manufacturer Information

Comments

2023-11-29 07:49:01 PM

JACK L wrote:

Hi

"Cartridge: Pottery body..* qtd F.M.

Indeed it sounded sooo 'ceramic' to my bronze ears: so clean, so clinical, lacking the warm & rich piano harmonics from your YouTube demo to my laptop microspeakers !!

So I switched instantly to another YouTube demo of Chopin Nocturne No 2, my very favourite piano piece & listened it through my same labtop microspeakers.

Same media & same playback gear, the Chopin Nocturne sounded soo harmonically rich like a piano should sound - the human touch which yr demo lacks !!!!

Should a 4 -grand cartridge sound so cold & clinical ?????

Pardon me being so upfront on you !

JACK L

PS: I know as again, so often I listen to live practice at home & performance of my elder son, a disciplined classical pianist.
- 2023-11-30 07:44:08 PM
  
  NLak wrote:
  
  LOL! Ceramic LOL!
  - 2023-12-01 12:05:35 AM
    
    JACK L wrote:
    
    Would you still LOL if you had paid 5 grands for this cartrdige with ceramic body when you heard such clinical sound from M.F.'s YouTube demo ??
    
    JACK L
    - 2023-12-01 03:22:41 PM
      
      NLak wrote:
      
      For starters, it’s $4K, not $5k. I heard the Remodel precursor in 2019 and considered purchasing it, but ultimately, I bought a Hana ML for a steal. The JICO Seto-Hori was transparent and open but wasn’t hyper-analytical or etched. I expect this new Remodel to have a similar family sound. I think your cheap MM cartridges and budget tubes have provided you with a colored and simplified presentation, and whenever you hear anything that deviates from that, you think it’s cold and clinical. It would help if you expanded your horizons.
      - 2023-12-01 05:04:25 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        " I think your cheap MM cartridges and budget tubes have provided you with a colored and simplified presentation" qtd NLak
        
        You heard it ? Just blind guessing ???
        
        You are talking to someone here who has designed/built/upgraded audios, including tube amps, loudspeakers, 99.99% pure silver interconnects & power cords, etc. for decades, supplemented by decades career engagement in the electrical power engineering industries.
        
        Tell me what you audios you got at home before you keep on bigmouthing ! How many vinyl records you got to qualify your big mouthing here ???
        
        My live music reference is live performance by my elder son, a disciplined classical pianist. So tell what you got to have made above moot allegation !
        
        I am all ears !
        
        JACK L
        
        I got
        
        2023-12-01 05:32:35 PM
        
        NLak wrote:
        
        LOL!! It's hilarious, like my old GI Joe pull-string doll that says the same thing every time I pull it. I particularly liked how Phil Marchand and Jim Hagerman schooled you on switch mode power supplies a few months ago on the other site.
        
        2023-12-01 07:22:09 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "switch mode power supplies " qtd NLak
        
        So you like "switch power supplies" ? God bless !
        
        We are not in the same ballpark, pal. You are only AAA , not major league yet, musically !
        
        Whoever designers employing switching power supplies in analogue amps is to save the big manufacture cost & to rip off those consumers who got bronze ears.
        
        Marchand/Hagman or whoever "schooled" me? Show me the relevant papers to prove your moot allegation. Please don't tell me you already owed amps installed with SMPS as you are so ignorant of the EMI/RFI noise problem of any SMPS.
        
        I measured such RF noises from audio using SMPS with my brandname wideband powerline & EMI noise digital analyser. Sheer talking is cheap !
        
        Why don't you tell Hagerman or whoever SMPS supporters contact me to talk over it with me TECHNICALLY !
        
        If your ears can't tell linear power supply from noisy SMPS sonically, save your bigmouthing on any 4 or 5 grander phono cartridges ! It's a waste of your money !
        
        JACK L
        
        2023-12-01 07:28:58 PM
        
        NLak wrote:
        
        LOL! You don't even remember, hilarious.
        
        2023-12-01 08:08:30 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        No, I "don't even remember " !
        
        So I ask again the 2nd time: quote me which papers you claimed where Hagerman or whoever SPMS experts ever "schooled" me.
        
        Otherwise, vent your sick spleen somewhere else ! Bigmouth !
        
        JACK L
        
        2023-12-01 09:03:56 PM
        
        NLak wrote:
        
        Nah! not going to post on this site, go find it yourself, but they took the time to explain and debunk your scribble on SMPS. The lesson learned is that there are people more intelligent than you, real designers, who bring things to market and who know more than you. It was telling how you didn’t even bother to reply to them. I guess they know what they’re talking about. Perhaps an admission that just because they don’t have the same experiences as you doesn’t mean they don’t know anything. A little humble pie goes a long way Jack L.
        
        2023-12-01 11:05:13 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "I guess they know what they’re talking about. ' qtd NLak
        
        Yes, keep on your "guess" as you don't know the theory & design of a SMPS which I know too well.
        
        Of course they are "more intelligent than" than me in saving big manufacture cost using SMPS instead of linear PS at the expense of those naive consumers who listen to their sales pitch instead of music.
        
        I know this audio business too well so as NOT to get involved in it. Why should I get involved in this hard-to-make money business when I am making easy monies in the money markets.
        
        It is still OK for me to take on audio as leisure hobby but to make a living in this business, thanks but no thanks as I have got much better options.
        
        JACK L
        
        2023-12-02 02:16:07 PM
        
        NLak wrote:
        
        Actually, it’s you that doesn’t know about SMPS, seeing how Marchand and Hagerman explained to you how they work after you mocked their approach in your rant.
        
        2023-12-04 09:52:22 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "Actually, it’s you that doesn’t know about SMPS, " qtd NLak
        
        You know nothing about SMPS but expect everybody else igorant like YOU ?
        
        If I don't know the RF noise problems of any SMPS, why should I have invested my money in acquiring my SMPS RF noise digital analyer ???
        
        Wake up & smell the coffee, pal !
        
        JACK L
        
        2023-12-05 03:03:21 PM
        
        NLak wrote:
        
        I never claimed I knew anything about SMPS or was an expert. You’re the one who claims he knows everything but knows nothing. As others have told me and told YOU, these high-frequency switchers typically work around 100kHz, which is inaudible and easy to filter; there is no audible noise, and I couldn’t care less about your digital noise analyzer (learn to spell check by the way). Data regarding this topic from companies like Benchmark, Chord, and others is available to read. Established companies like Vertere and Linn are continually improving their SMPS, as seen by Linn’s new Utopik PS. No noise; they sound fabulous. So I ask you again, why should anyone listen or take seriously anything you say when plenty of intelligent people have been improving a product you claim is flawed? Why should anyone take you seriously? You’re not risking anything or building anything; real engineers are. I listen to them, not you. You’re a clown. I think you are not much of an engineer; I don’t think you are one. If you are, you have limited knowledge and are frozen in time with your theories. Most engineers I know are constantly learning and adapting to new things. I feel sorry for you and your limited and constricted viewpoints. And I am not your pal.
        
        2023-12-05 04:31:40 PM
        
        doak wrote:
        
        GET S ROOM!!!!!!!
        
        2023-12-06 09:36:10 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        stop your moot argument. Spend a couple of minutes to google SMPS to find out how you fooled by the sales pitches of those audio manufacturers & vendors for soo long.
        
        So name who are "most engineers" you "know" & tell them to talk to me here TECHNICALLY !!
        
        Wake up & smell the coffeem pal!
        
        JACK L
        
        PS:
        
        2023-12-06 09:41:53 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        ps: I always use "pal" to adddress to whoever bigmouthing. My friends don't talk empty like you, "pal" !
        
        2023-12-06 11:26:24 PM
        
        NLak wrote:
        
        If they’re dimwits like you I doubt that.
        
        2023-12-06 11:14:29 PM
        
        NLak wrote:
        
        Cornell grads, both nephews, both electrical engineers. Showed them your posts, like me they doubt you’re a real engineer.
        
        2023-12-07 09:42:48 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "both nephews, both electrical engineers. " qtd NLak
        
        So what? Don't you know electrical enginneers do not automatically know audio engineering at all. FYI, younger son, an electrial enginneer graduated from the world's well-known electrical engineeering university in Northern America where major technical corpsworldwide want to offer job to its graduates even before their gradauation.
        
        My son is now working in a major internet switching stations manufacturer in the Silicon Valley since he was graduated as a software design enginneer. He knows nothing aboutaudio engineering!
        
        The edge I am over him is I self-learned & design/build audios despite my career enginneering field is high power engineering involving VHV power transmission as part of my disciplines.
        
        So ask your nephews which electrial engineering fields they are now working in. Do they know audio engineering at all ???
        
        JACKL
        
        2023-12-08 12:03:23 AM
        
        NLak wrote:
        
        Some other time, I'll ask.
        
        2023-12-02 01:57:16 PM
        
        topround wrote:
        
        Silver power cords sound terrible
        
        2023-12-04 11:38:13 PM
        
        JACK L wrote:
        
        Hi
        
        "Silver power cords sound terrible" qtd topround
        
        Really? Have you actually owned one & auditioned it in depth? Or just hearsay ??
        
        Like human beings, not all "silver power cords" are made equal & perfect !
        
        If you have got one that sounds "terrible", too bad ! Go spend more money to get another brandname cords that are design/built better sonically.
        
        How come my custom-design/built 99.99% pure silver power cords & interconnects (7 pairs of them for my own audio rig alone) sound sooo ELEGANT, so silky & so musical ??
        
        Once one acquires the FULL knowledge of the physics of cable conductors, one could (or even could not even) build superb sounding pure silver cables !
        
        I know soo well due to my career involvement in the electrial engineering industries for decades.
        
        No free lunch, pal.
        
        Listening to pure silver cables is believing
        
        JACK L