Lyra Atlas experiences

Reading all this, you can see how intellectual arguments can lead anywhere(especially if you get one thing wrong).  I use parameters as an outside guiding force-not the be all and end all of all things.  You need to get in the ballpark(with these), and then use your ears to actually hear what anti-skate does.  I think, once again, focusing on one aspect of the sound, is a mistake.  You can make a minute adjustment-let's say one where the channels seem correctly balanced-but find, after sleeping on it, that your desire to listen has diminished.  This method introduces your subconscious, which holds many more parameters than your conscious, or intellectual mind.  In short, adjust anti-skate based on what anti-skate actually does(learned by incremental changes to it), and not what it does to your system(heck, your speakers could be positioned slightly off, or you amp is slightly different between the channels, etc.).

Thanks, I agree - on some points. Raul, my s-state comparison - the stuff I lived with for a long time, learning to know its potential - included the Krell FPB600, which went far beyond my earlier s-state amps (Tandberg, Revox, Yamaha, plus lower Krell models). Possibly, some other phono stage could outperform my Aesthetix Io in my system, but this is not the point in this debate, even less so, since I find that I am well able to hear adjustement effects also on "lowly" phono stages like the Graham Slee Fanfare 3 that I am using now (since the Io is on repair), a PH-6 that.I borrowed for some time, plus some other s-state units.

Clearly, phono stages differ, how clearly do they show optimal cartridge adjustment, but they mainly point the same way, and even from a minimal box using op amps, like the Fanfare, I can get good enough feedback, to work further.

Mmakshak - listen for overall sound, sleeping on it - your comments match my experience. It is not techical (although indeed very technical, small adjustments, nerdy measurements). It is mainly emotional. What is the impact of the music. This is what I go for, also. If a song I played the evening before breaks into my daily routine the day after, making me want to hum or sing, I smile and think: "got it"!

Dear @o_holter : """   but this is not the point in this debate, """"

of course it's not and I did not posted about because of that but only because that Atlas deserve the better, it has to be surrounded by premium items in the analog rig and PS is part of it as tonearm and the like. Tha's all.

regards and enjoy the music,
R.

This delicate and extremely sensitive low output cartridge signal is degraded very easy and one form of that degradation ( exist several others. ) is the high noise in any all tube phono stage ( against any SS design. )

If playing at a normal volume, with our preamp you can't hear the difference in the noise floor as opposed to the Aux inputs. So I don't see this statement as truthful. Further, I've yet to hear any preamp that does not have a sonic signature; the solid state signature so far has been the most annoying. It seems a poor choice to have that imposed at such an early spot in the signal chain as the phono cartridge!