Lyra Lambda Atlas/Etna

@mijostyn, in my experience you don’t need to be apprehensive about the built quality of the Colibri. The design is fragile by nature and mounting and dismounting a Colibri needs a very steady hand and definitely is not my idea of having a good time. Nonetheless, my Colibri XPW Blackwood is over 10 years old, has received two retips and is still performing beautifully. No sign of the wood changing dimensions or anything. My sample is the discontinued version with platinum coils (the only one such beast in existence as far as I know), so at least as ‘collectible’ as e.g. the Lyra with platinum magnets. One could get nervous about the exposed coil wires, but after a while you tend to forget this. I do use it sparingly, as vdHul isn’t getting any younger and I would be reluctant to have it retipped again by somebody else. So if you’re interested in a Colibri, my advise to you is to get one while you still can.

@edgewear , does it come with a stylus guard ?

Nope, would be difficult with nothing to attach it to. It’s the main reason why (dis)mounting it is such a nerve wrecking affair. But worth it!

Mijostyn, do we imagine that any of the very best cartridges are manufactured by a machine? I think they’re all ultimately hand made. Also, you’re a fan of Schroeder tonearms, many if not most of which are made of wood. Tonearm changing shape would be much more consequential than cartridge changing shape. Metals change dimensions due to temperature changes too, so I would not be concerned about a wood body cartridge unless it sounds bad.

Since the load resistance is a function of the phono stage circuit as well as of the cartridge choice, I wonder how Allaerts can make such a definitive statement about how properly to load their cartridges (“845 ohms”).

Dear @mijostyn :  +1 ​​​​​​@edgewear who really is lucky with those platinum coils, as he said a collector item.

@lewm you only have to ask J.Allaerts here: 

http://www.jallaerts.be/

R.