Lyra Delos and Soundsmith

Hi Bifwynne: I've been working on the documentation for a new tonearm cable that we'll be introducing shortly. It's a twin-axial shielded cable with very low capacitance (32pF for 1.2m, including connectors). The low capacitance is so that a wider range of loading resistances than normally practical can be used. Higher load resistances will allow the cartridge's dynamics and resolution to bloom more, which means better sound overall.

At any rate, thanks for moving up to the Kleos. It's a smoother-sounding cartridge than the Delos, and the top-end is better-controlled. The treble region will sound less splashy, less dry, and more "moist".

You will also hear this as a lower noise-floor, especially on LPs that have some level of pops, clicks and surface noise. LPs will tend to sound cleaner, and in better condition with the Kleos.

These improvements are due in great part to the stronger body materials, more complex body construction of the Kleos, and reduced heatshell contact area.

One other possible difference is that the output pins are now platinum-plated, while for the earlier versions of the Delos we used silver. By resisting tarnishing better, the platinum electrical contacts should require less maintenance than the silver.

The distance from mounting screws to the stylus is the same for the Delos and Kleos (give or take 0.15mm), likewise for the height. However, the Kleos weighs more, so you will need to readjust the counterweight.

The Kleos tracks a little lighter than the Delos, but both models are extremely sensitive to tracking force, so a digital scale with 0.01 g accuracy or better is recommended.

The Kleos puts out a little less output than the Delos, so you may need to turn up the volume a bit more, and depending on your phono stage, the Kleos may sound a smidge less dynamic. But this is a phono stage issue, not a cartridge issue.

BTW, I suggest that you periodically flux-bust the cartridges (whether it is the Delos, Kleos, or any other of our cartridges). Remove the RCA jacks from your phono stage (probably a good idea to turn it off first), put a dead short from plus to ground of each channel, separately, and then play a fairly dynamic LP passage for a few minutes (with the cartridge's output shorted into itself). Put everything back as it was, and the sound should now be more open, less hazy, and cleaner (like the distortion level dropped lower).

hth and kind regards, jonathan carr

Hello Jonathan. Installed the Kleos a couple of hours ago. Been listening to a lot of vinyl, mostly various types and stripes of 1970s rock and roll. Will be moving on to some Charlie Mingus Jazz and a selection of classical shortly. This carty is going to get the full court press.

Here's some reactions. Definition and imaging is a grade or two better than the Delos. Bass is more refined, tighter, real kick. I can feel it in my feet and listening couch.

More on overall detail and information retrieval. I definitely can hear much more information being dragged out of the grooves. It helps to really make for extremely sharp imaging. If two or more people are singing at the same time, I can picture where they "stand" in the sound-stage.

As to background noise levels, I agree that background noise is lower and I can turn the gain up with much less grain and grit. Fortunately, my phono pre (ARC PH-8) has just enough gain (58 db) to get the job done quite well. ARC previously advised me that .5 mV is as low as I should go, so I'm ok. I might get away with .4 mV, but not much less.

Btw, as to your comment re low capacitance I/Cs, I purchased custom made RCA cables from Tom Tutay, a well respected electronic design and repair gentleman. Tom said his I/Cs are very low resistance and only 19 pF per foot. So a 6 foot run should add roughly 115 or so pF, which I don't surmise is too much. FWIW, it seems that loading the carty at 100 ohms off the phono pre yields the best sound.

Last Q -- is it normal that the cantilever rides low'ish. It seems that the cartridge belly is only a millimeter or two above the record surface. Not much more.

Kudos to you and the master craftsmen who built a wonderful cartridge. Bruce

P.S. Listening to Stravinsky's Firebird, recorded on London records. Very, very nice!

Jcarr -- been playing the Kleos with some classical vinyl, e.g., H. von Karajan conducting the Berliner Philharmonic, Beethoven's 9th (DG). The Kleos does a very credible job of presenting an uncluttered soundstage. Considering all the action in the 4th movement, ... impressive. Unfortunately, I'm not lovin' the DG pressing of the 9th. I have a few better (e.g., G. Solti conducting Chicago Symph. Orchest., (London Phase 4).

Jacrr: You recommended periodic fluxbusting. Can you please clarify what you mean by periodic? Monthly? Every x hours of playing? Etc. Also, I have an Audioquest DM-1000 cartridge demagnetizer. What about using that instead of fluxbusting?

Finally, you wrote: " ...his subsequent correspondance suggests that he is clearly happier with the stock Delos than he was with the Soundsmith-retipped Helikon / Argo." In this case, was the "retipping" of the Delos a replacement of the stylus alone, or (as is more typical with Soundsmith) of the entire cantilever/stylus assembly?

Dear Jonathan,
Speaking as an enthusiastic owner of the Delos, could you please clarify which parts of the typical Lyra MC benefit from the flux-busting technique you mentioned?

Many feel that there aren't enough ferrous materials in the typical MC to demag, and the ones that are there you wouldn't want to?
Would there be any long term deleterious effects from persistent demagging?
Kind regards...