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Anyone compare Ortofon A90 vs Lyra Titan i?

I have an A90 which I have broken the cantilever off. Whoops. I plan on having it rebuilt by ortofon but have been told it will take about a month.

I have not heard a Lyra cart yet and am wondering what the differences may be. Both have been discibed as very neutral sounding.

I don't have system page yet so I will list my eq so you know what I'm working with.

Reed 3Q 12" tonearm.
Technics SP10 mk2a in home made 65 lb. plinth
Allnic H3000 phonopre
Aesthetix Callisto pre
Innersound amps
Innersound Kaya loudspeakers

I really like the A90 but I am looking at alternatives as I may add a second tonearm at some point.

Sean
sarcher30
larryi
4,118 posts
 
Sean,

Since you are having the A90 fixed, it still probably pays to have an alternative that sounds slightly different--just to keep things interesting. The Titan is a slightly cooler sounding cartridge than the Orpheus. I cannot say how it compares to the A90 because I haven't heard a side-by-side comparison.

Any of a number of Lyra cartridges will probably be good alternatives (slightly different, but not extremely different). I have owned a number of Lyra cartridges and all have proven to be very long-lived, great at tracking, and quiet (low amount of ticks and pops).
lewm
13,347 posts
 
Been thinking about these cartridges. How on earth could Ortofon take the position that they cannot or won't rebuild the A90? Do they mean to tell its owners that they spent ca $4000 for a cartridge that has a life span only equal to that of its stylus assembly? Doesn't make sense to me. On the other hand, some audiophiles do like to be abused by manufacturers. Can Expert Stylus in England or Soundsmith in US rebuild the A90?
sarcher30 OP
596 posts
 
Larryi,

Thanks for the feedback.

Variety is the spice of life. Yes I want something different but equally refined and transparent.

Does anyone know what rooms at RMAF I might find Lyra carts in action? Same with Transfiguration?

Sean
dre_j
159 posts
 
Sean,

Bergman has shown Lyra Titan-i the past two years. Last year I felt the table and Arm did the cartridge some justice. It was the Sleipner vacuum hold down table.

Spiral Groove "may" show Lyra. They designed the Centroid arm to work with Lyra carts by adding a special alignment hole to the arm but Immedia Sound recently lost the distribution so I don't know.

Audioquest now distributes Lyra so they may have the cartridge in one of there suites if they are playing vinyl.

The Audio Alternative tends to show Lyra on there tables.

Dre
sarcher30 OP
596 posts
 
Dre,

Sounds like I will just have to keep my eyes peeled. I wish more of the exihibitors would list what they will have in their rooms.

I will be there all three days and will just focus on analog so I should be able to hear most of what is there.

I want to check out the Soundsmith strain gage as well.

Sean
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