Lyra Olympos vs Parnassus naked original version

The magnetic circuit lends a family resemblance between the two cartridges.

Unfortunately, the Parnassus I compared with an Olympos had quite a few miles on it, so I can't say for certain how much of the extra refinement came from the Olympos, and how much of the difference was due to (perhaps) a worn out Parnassus.

One thing is certain - they sound like very close siblings.

Both cartridges were compared on one of my Galibier turntables using two Schroeder References. Hopefully, this little bit of information can help in some way.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

Hi Thom,
from your responce I understand that, regardless the miles they had on, these two cartridges have almost the same sonic quality since their magnet system is identical. Am I right?

I don't think, that they are more or less identical, because the Olympos uses the magnets only. The Olympos uses the Titan Body (I think I read it somewhere), this was made later when the Titan cartridge was introduced. Then there is the needle, the suspension which can be changed too (or more). You can ask Lyra for that special information.
Anyway, when you like the sound of the Parnassus and don't want to spend the money to go for Olympos, they will rebuild the Parnassus (they support their older Designs).

Dear Pentatonia: IMHO if you have the money that Lyra ask for then go for the Olympos, it is a great cartridge and better than the original stock Parnassus. That both cartridges have the Lyra signature sound IMHO does not means are similar but different.

Do you think that J.Carr was taking his design/voicing/manufacturer time to build the Olympos with similar performance than the Parnassus and for that charge that kind of money to his customers?

+++++ " Is it wothing the extra cost to create an Olympos cartridge? " +++++

at the level of quality performance that we are talking improvements over that performance are hard to achieve and pricey.
For me and other people can be worth to pay for it but maybe for other persons don't.

I think that you have to contact directly with J.Carr about.

Btw, IMHO the best step up transformer is no SUT but I respect other people opinion on the subject.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Hi Pentatonia,

To clarify my point, the magnetic circuit is one of many elements of a cartridge design, and it plays an important (but not exclusive) role in establishing the sonic signature of a cartridge.

I'll go out on a limb to say that it is similar in effect to choice of magnets in a speaker. There are those who would not let anything but Alnico grace their listening room - irrespective of the other virtues of the speaker design. Alnico advocates claim that a motor circuit employing alnico has a certain flavor - a je ne cais quois about it.

This alnico "flavor" is in part substantiated by measurements of eddy current in alnico motor systems. The point it doesn't address of course, is how a ground up design using (for example) neodynium can result in the same effect, but I digress ...

So, how does this relate to the platinum magnets in both the Parnassus and the Olympus? It's hard to tell. The similarities between the two may well have more to do with Lyra's knowledge, their goals, and their ability to achieve these goals.

Give Mark Knopfler a knock-off Chinese made Strat, and he's still going to sound like Mark Knopfler ;-)

Of course, all of the other components - body, cantilever/suspension, etc. play a role in the sound. I didn't think this needed emphasizing.

My main point is that there is a strikingly close resemblance between the two cartridges. It speaks to a mature concept of what Lyra is doing - one of continual improvement and refinement.

The point I can't answer for you is how good my Parnassus was in relation to a new Parnassus - was some of the lack of refinement due to wear and tear on my well used cartridge.

One thing is certain - the two cartridges are close siblings of each other SONICALLY. I cannot compare any of these to the current crop of "standard" Lyras, because my experience of the other Lyras is in unfamiliar systems.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier