Lyra Atlas experiences

Dear @downunder : The A90 as almost all top Ortofon models in the past  are not " expensive " as you said against other top cartridges as Lyra, Clearaudio, Air Tigth and the like.

This is the first time that I read a compliant in the treplicant Ortofon stylus tip regarding its playing time that you said " only " 1000 hours vs 3K hours against Lyra.

I own and owned Ortofon cartridges with replicant and non-replicant stylus tip shapes and never gave me any trouble, maybe because not over 1K hours but if I remember a scientific research by Ortofn people found out that over 500 hours the quality level performance of any cartridge ( Ortofon or non-Ortofon. ) begin  to fall down due to the playing hours where stylus tip starts to shows signs of that terrible and hard cartridge job over the LP grooves. If we want to mantain the " same " quality level performance on top cartridges I think that between 500-750 but no more than 1K hours needs for a a retipp.
Problem is that because we are listen it day by day we really don't take in count that lower and lower quality performance levels but exist that way.

Now, the 100th anniversary is a total Ortofon departure in their cartridge designs because for the very first time they use diamond as cantilever build material when Ortofon never showed to use more " sophisticated and expensive " cartridge materials but more focus in its design and excecution very high quality to that cartridge design.


Please do it me a favor and buy one an after 500 hours I will buy it from you. That cartridge is a must to have.

Btw, the Atlas SL has more "  pure and forgiven " sound because it has lower output that means less coild wire.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

I am running my Lyra Atlas - it is maybe a total of 14 - 1500 hours by now.

No major problems. The bad spots in my vinyl collection are like before (mistracking, sibilance).

It has become more "slack" than in the beginning, as is to be expected. Mainly it works to the best, sonically (a bit more more rounded, mellow, ambience-tuned, dimensional).

Michael Fremer got problems with the Atlas after four years - his copy was bought in 2013, like mine. But he described "heavy usage". I suspect this means 2500 - 3000 hours or even more. At that point he heard clear signs of wear, especially, more sibilance. So far, this is not a problem on my cartridge.

Generally, yes, the Atlas is a big investment. But I have never looked back.

The Atlas goes so deep that the woofers can pump (subsonic movement), at least in some arm combinations with low resonance, like my SME V. Yet this usually means good sound, it is not very serious, in my judgement so far. See
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/why-are-my-woofers-pumping

Have others experienced subsonic woofer pumping with the Atlas or other Lyra carts? If the answer is no, just a little, or yes - what tonearm do you use? Symptom: you see the woofer cone move in and out, even if you don’t hear anything, playing vinyl records - especially in-between tracks, and in the intro and outro grooves. You need to turn up the volume to do the test. You can also use your fingers to feel the cone movement. Example of test LP: Pink Floyd Meddle.

@o_holter I have been using a long-in-the-tooth Clavis DC on and off for years.  I have not experienced any woofer pumping in my system.  If I may make a suggestion (I'm assuming you are using sorbothane pucks in your HW-19) you might consider using a different Duro rating, maybe softer.  Another potential culprit might be the bearing.  An "oil change" and cleaning may help.  Check the best to see if there is any obvious wear that could be getting into the platter assy.

I used the Clavis DC briefly in my VPI HW-19/III (spring sprung, not pucks) until changing to a modified TNT and then to an Aries Extended.  Arms used include Premier FT3 with Sumiko Analog Survival Kit arm wrap, Jelco 750D and JMW Memorial 12.  Never an issue.  

Thank you bpoletti, very interesting. I still have my Clavis DC on the loft, and should probably take it down to test it for woofer pumping. I dont remember much pumping in the years when I used this now well worn cart, but that was with a different tonearm, the very difficult Souther / Triquarts parallel arm, skating around rather than giving a precise image of the groove (in my system at least), though the arm was so light that there was no resonance problem. The compliance of the Clavis, Titan and Atlas are the same I believe - as given from Lyra - 12 at 100hz.

I am no longer using the HW-19, but instead a Hanss T30 which I find superior in most (not all) respects.

Maybe we share an experience - with Lyra cartridges - even the Clavis, and even more, with the Titan, and the Atlas - changing the player and arm makes a difference.