Good carts with SME V

Tønnes – thank you. Probably, the Black would be most interesting to try, in my system.

Raul – I know you don’t like tubed phono stages. Yes, there are minuses, but plusses too. It is not like I go to friends places with solid-state stages and then when I get home I hear “fake” sound. I suggest we agree to disagree on that one. We agree on the tonearm, however.  The Atlas + SME V combo has a low ca 7hz frequency. But is it an issue? I thought so, but was probably wrong. The real reason for the problem (woofer pumping) seems to be the diamond/cantilever connection gradually going bad, until the diamond got lose and then finally fell off. It happened after 12-1300 hours (I recalculated).

The Titan i has maybe 1800 hours, but happily, after a little adjustment, still runs fine, although a little worn-sounding. After more adjustments most of the worn sound (harshness and sibilants, muddy bass) was gone, and I was reminded of what a great cartridge the Titan i is.  Going from the Clavis to the Titan was a larger step up, for me, than from Titan to Atlas. But this may also be due to a problem with the Clavis (riding too low). So yes, a retip and boron cantilever may be a good idea, when the Atlas has been fixed (for now, I need the Clavis as backup).

My SME V does not have mistracking issues. Mistracking occurs only when the vinyl groove is really bad. I did some testing of the arm bearing and found no problems. Maybe the Atlas tracks best, then Titan, and then Clavis – but they are quite similar. If the record is reasonably OK and the arm is fully adjusted, there are no tracking problems. This behavior is very different from the Souther/Clearaudio Triquartz parallel arm I had before, I never managed to get it to control the cartridge properly.  With the SME V – no problem. The rigid construction, materials etc probably means that it can work well even if resonance is on the low side. The Titan, weighing ca 1 g less than the Atlas, is less challenging in this respect (and the Clavis, weighing even less). I can confirm that reducing effective tonearm mass by shifting the counterweight towards the arm base, taking off the upper bridge, and similar, does not have much impact on the resonance (testing with the HFN record). It became only a tiny bit higher, from maybe 7.1 hz to 7.2 if I remember right; it did not seem worth it.  

I am considering a Koetsu Black offer here on Agon, but have to check on the production year and the number of hours. The underside is black, not gold as I've seen from review pictures.

Raul suggested - get a boron cantilever for the Lyra Clavis. I guess my model has a  "Ceralloy" composite cantilever. What would be the sonic benefits?

I also wonder - would it be worth it, considering my experience with Lyra carts over the years. Comparing Clavis, Titan and Atlas, there is no doubt there has been improvements. Lyra made several step up attempts (Helikon, Evolve) trying to improve the Clavis. The first new line "flagship" was the Titan, soon followed by an improved "i" version. I had both, and the "i" version really was a main step up, compared to the Clavis. Putting the Clavis back in my system, my first thought is: "hi fi sound". It sounds restricted. Like sound we put up with, twenty years ago. Putting on a different cantilever probably won't solve the problem. But who knows? I've seen some serious Clavis tweaking on the web, including a semi-nude, holed up, version of the body.

@rauliruegas What about all of those records from the 60s-70s that had tube equipment somewhere in the chain, from recording to cutting, do they not have tubey sound part of what’s cut in the grooves? 

The Titan i does make this record sound “sharp”. But was it meant to sound that way? I think, yes. There should be some razor blade to the sound. Now that it is better adjusted, the bass performance is very tight and sounds great. The guitar of Steve Howe sounds more full, warm.

I've been a Yes fan from way back, and also have UK originals for most of their early stuff.
I've not heard any sharpness on Relayer. The only version of Close to the Edge that seems to hold up is the original UK version (the pipe organ does not break up) followed closely by the Mobile Fidelity version. In a number of ways The Yes Album (purple Atlantic label) seems the best recorded...