JC3+ With Kleos SL?

I had not made up my mind at the time of the original post.

Interesting you got distortion.  The gain of the phono stage is fixed so I would expect noise but not distortion.  A low input will give a lower output.  One's preamp may distort trying to make up the difference.  That is unlikely with the CP-500, particularly at the reasonable levels at which I listen.  Will give that issue some more thought.

Thanks for the replies,
Robert

Sorry, to be clear, I heard a lot more noise through the system as the gain was turned up...in my books that equates to distortion. As the system was asked to amplify the signal, the noise increased tremendously as it began to max out on the gain. Running the preamp gain control at such a high level, meant an increase in noise/ distortion. Far greater loss than what I had gained by going with the lower output cartridge and its supposedly greater abilities due to lower windings of the coil. YMMV.

Davey, You cannot be sure that your "gain" problem centers around the gain of your phono stage (65db per your report) and the output of your cartridge (0.25mV).  The subjective impression of gain also depends upon the input sensitivity and gain of your linestage (if you drive a linestage via your phono stage) and the input sensitivity of your amplifier(s), assuming other evidence that the amplifier/speaker match is copacetic.  On paper, a cartridge with a real output of 0.25mV driving a phono stage with 65db of gain should be fine.  I am currently using an Audio Technica ART7 (less than 0.2mV output) into a Manley Steelhead set at 65db for gain.  The Manley output stage adds no further gain, and there is absolutely no sense of strain or noise due to stress.  (The Manley drives a pair of Beveridge direct drive amplifiers which have a solid state input stage; I do not know the input sensitivity, but obviously it's adequate.)

By the way, for the purposes of discussion, at least, it's best to separate "distortion" from "noise", I think.  Your lumping of noise and distortion is not wrong but maybe a little confusing.  Noise of the kind you describe is accounted for by the "signal to noise ratio" specification, which is usually stated separately from harmonic or IM distortion measurements.

So let me quote Lyra and then I have a question.  They say, "Most users (and phono stages) will benefit from the regular Kleos with much higher output and considerably more energy; resulting in a much better signal-to-noise ratio."  

The energy part is interesting.  Are the lower output carts less dynamic?  The fact that they say higher output and more output in reference to the regular Kleos begs the question.

Enjoying the discussion:-)

@lewm. The interaction with my preamp and amp were not an issue, the preamp I utilized at the time had no problem with a cartridge that was spec’d at 0.35mv. I agree there are several issues that can crop up that affect the outcome of the pairing, but IME it isn’t wise to push the gear to the max, just because we can.
I think the warning, and that’s the way I read it, that Rob posts above from Lyra is there for a very good reason. I totally respect that they put that out there, as so many other ultra low output cartridge manufacturers, like Ortofon as an example, don’t bother.
Unfortunately, on paper is rarely going to tell you the whole story...on paper my 0.25 mV cartridge should have worked, which is why I bought it...in reality...not so much!