Hana Umami Red or Lyra Kleos?
I’ve found out about two or three cartridges in my price range of $3000 -$4000 that should work well within the limitations of my Luxman 505uX Mk II’s built in phono stage. The other cartridge is the Soundsmith "The Voice" MI cartridge. Next I’ve had to figure out which are also compatible with my VPI Classic 2’s JMW 10.5i tonearm (with or without the VPI two pivot mod).
I’ve been informed off my short list, the Hana Umani Red and the Lyra Kleos both appear to have the right specs to be appropriate candidates for use with the VPI JMW 10.5i, However the Soundsmith "The Voice" would have weight and/or compliance issues.
Have any of you advice as to which of either the Hana Umami Red or Lyra Kleos MC cartridges you might prefer? I’m pretty sure these are both excellent choices, but may have some differences you might be able to point out, I’m a bit disappointed the Soundsmith "The Voice" might not match up well with the VPI JMW 10.5i tonearm, but so it goes. Thanks for any advice and sharing your experience with either of these cartridges.
Mike
@skyscraper : Your today unipivot VPI tonearm is the wrong tonearm for that cartridges quality level. It can work but it never will helps for any of those cartridges can shows at its best. Sooner or latter you need to let goes that terrible unipivot tonearm.
R. |
Achipo, thanks for the recommend on your Lyra Kl;eos. It seems to get excellent reviews all around. Hopefully someone will be able to chime in who has also heard the Hana Umami Red. It’s a much newer cartridge, so probably not as many have had the opportunity to demo or own one. I’m curious in what ways the Soundsmith Hyperion was an improvement over the Kleos if you don’t mind sharing.. Tablejockey, "incompatible" might be too strong a word. If I understood this person correctly the weight of the the cartridge, and perhaps the compliance of the Soundsmith "The Voice" do not match up with the VPI JMW 10.5i" cartridge like their much less expensive ($1499) Zephyr HOMI cartridge does. The Zephyr was designed specifically for VPI’s tonearms in consultation with VPI’s.Harry Weisfeld,. The Kleos and Umami Red both have specs that match the JMW 10.5i well. .At the much higher price point than the Zephyr HOMI. I’m guessing they would perform better, although my advisor still recommends the Zephyr as well as the Kleos or Umami. I’ve emailed Soundsmith to get their input on the cartridge/tonearm matching issue,and the performance quality of the Zephyr HOMI versus the Soundsmith "The Voice" HOMI. Mike |
I have heard both ( Lyra and Hana ) at some length but not on same table. Lyra on a Unipivot VPI , Hana on an AMG. A major toss up….. both frankly are excellent and both will reward..your…eventual…arm upgrade to pivot….. Lets put it this way, as a long term Lyra owner, if i couldn’t find a Lyra, the Umami would be on my short list of cartridges… Best Jim |
Thanks Jim. availability might end up being a factor too with the current supply chain issues. I’m probably going to have to take a trip up to Washington DC if I can find a dealer up that way who can demo them both on the same table. I haven’t located a Lyra dealer any closer yet though, other than the mail order chains. I’m curious about what Soundsmth might say too about the tonearm matching issue with their "The Voice" .HOMI cartridge. The dealer I spoke with thought it was a significant enough issue to warrant going with the lower Soundsmith Zephyr model. Daveyf, thanks for your description, having heard both. If you don’t mind my asking, why did you decide to go with the Kleos over the Umami? Raul, maybe some day I can upgrade the tonearm too, but with my Euro stock holdings in my IRA tanking lately, that may be later rather than sooner. Mike |
