Suggestions to upgrade from Lyra Delos

Dear @dducat : I see two options as an up grade your system.

One is to change the phono stage for a better one and stay with the Delos ( byw, this cartridge is not " compressed " as you say, this characteristic could be happening in other link of your system. ) and the other could be to buy this AT MC cartridge:

https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/at-art9xa


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

@rauliruegas:

I didn't say that the entire thing was compressed - just the front/back soundstage.  

I'm not sure what would be wrong with the phono preamp here - it's a very clean circuit, one 12AU7 and two 12AX7s per channel, and at the moment, all are vintage Telefunken.  I've got it very low loaded and a decent amount of gain, so I don't think it's really the phono preamp (I mean, I guess it could be).  If I had my druthers, I'd get a Herron VTPH-2A but well, that's probably not going to happen any time soon.

I do appreciate the suggestion on the at-art9xa.  I hadn't really thought of that cart as a serious comparison but it's certainly something I will look into as well.

@larryi  - thanks for the suggestion on the ART 1000.  I'll look into it.

@dover  - I'm curious what a top arm would be in the price range of the audiomods arm?  I figured I would have go $5K or more for a better arm which wasn't in the cards (and still isn't).

@solypsa - I'm fairly confident the arm can handle pretty much anything you throw at it.  While I don't know that it would handle an extremely low compliance heavy cart well, there are additional cartridge mounting plates as well as counter weight discs that you can swap or add so I suspect that even for the heaviest, lowest compliance carts, there's a solution.  Whether that's going to produce the best sound possible out of the combo needs further examination, I guess.  

s@dducat
As I said the Audiomods is a very good arm for the money and punches above its weight. There are arms up to $5k that in my view are better - the Kuzma 4Point9 for example @ around $4.5k

If you had $7k for arm/cart - then $5k arm/$2k cart will outperform $2k arm/$5k cart.

Arm cartridge matching is vital to provide synergy - that is why I'm suggesting medium compliance cartridges for the Audiomods. I know the arm and I simply would not put a Koetsu or top of the line Lyra on it. If you are looking at spending closer to $5k I would get a better arm first. My advice - stay at $2-2.5k budget - medium compliance.

I know the Soundsmith range works well in this arm - I've heard most of them.

What are you "missing" from your current combination ??

Check out miyajima Kansui ,but on low compliance .
Dynavector is medium side and their XX2 is very good for money .

+1 @dover regarding putting funds towards arm ( as a rule of thumb; no disrespect for the Audiomods arm )

@dducat which version Trumpet do you have? The current one with the dc wallwart or the old tall one or the reference? Just curious. I’ve heard the old tall one ( with a few mods at a friends house ) sound fantastic in the past...