Lyra Atlas experiences

Dear @o_holter : You are rigth, for AS test records does not works never did and people still use it because their high ignorance level.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Well, I thank you both, Raul and Nandric.

Some more visual checking today - now with a USB microscope. Very interesting, although so far, I haven’t been able to stabilize the setup enough to get sharp close up images of the diamond. It seems to be OK, on my lower scale images.

Since, from visual testing, the azimuth seems good, I did more listening, trying to get the antiskating optimal. The flute in the first Alpha Centauri track works well, and also my Lotta Lenya mono. I listen for how well the voice or instrument is pictured at the front even with large background dynamics (the "guru method" of listening).

I find that the arm behaves very good with the anti-skating a bit relaxed from the weight, perhaps 1.4 ot 1.5. Listening to female vocal, going lower to 1.1 makes the sound more relaxed and open in a way, but also made the voice "crack up" a bit, as if she had smoked all her life. I tried to correct this with a bit more weight, but that did not help, so I went back to standard weight (1.72 g).

In my system, if the antiskating is set too high, the whole soundstage sounds more controlled, but also restricted, tensioned. So it is a good idea to relax it a bit, but not too far from the setting equal to the weight, since then the sound will crack up, become too loose; it can sound like using too little weight.

Perhaps the best way to set antiskate by ear - after listening to mono recordings for rough adjustments - could be to select the best-sounding stereo recordings. With this in mind we listened to Shelby Lynne, Just a little lovin. It sounded very good at ca 1.5.

0_holter....when azimuth is properly set there is great depth ...instrunents are in front of and behind others, the soundstage is very wide...sometimes beyond the side walls, images are sculpted in space with (almost) a black line around them...no bleeding left, and right...especially with the Atlas ( Or Etna which I also think is wonderful) All these elements, are what we audiophiles cherish in presentation. I need an arm that provides for this adjustment....I use the Fozgometer and its accompanying lp as my tool of choice. Providing I use a new battery every time, I find the results accurate, and easy to accomplish.  I personally find that the use of anti/skate is detrimental to the sound.  It may lessen wear of the stylus, but I have no concern about that.  Using a/s on my system knocks some of the polish off of all that proper alignment contribute.  If anyone reading this post disagrees with me, that's fine...I've heard all the arguments....however, I maintain my stand.  Should you want to try to listen without a/s to find the differences, listen to only 1 instrument (I find percussion easiest to hear the differences).  When you can hear what I'm writing about, it will be easier to find that sonic clue on all the other instrument and singers.  My personal take is that a/s prevents the stylus from vibrating freely by exerting that outward force, and so reduces the stylus's ability reproduce those wiggles on the record.  I only write what I hear....I'm not a scientist, or an engineer.....just sayin'