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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
skyscraper OP
831 posts
 

Raul, in lieu of getting a gimbal type tonearm, which I really can’t afford at the moment on top of the price of the Lyra Kleos, would you advise I go ahead then and order VPI’s dual pivot mod as a stop gap measure until I can afford one? Might be a while before that happens. Appreciate your advice.

Anybody else have a thought on this?

Mike

Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
13,109 posts
 

Can you afford this one? if yes then buy it:

 

 

R

skyscraper OP
831 posts
 

Raul, my question to you was, do you think the VPI dual pivot at $170.dollars would be a worthwhile stopgap measure until I can in the future purchase a gimbal type tonearm. The only other responsible choice for me is to use the Lyra Kleos on my current VPI JMW 10.5i tonearm as is, until such a time as I can research and purchase a better tonearm. If you feel the Lyra’s performance would be so much poorer in the interim until a new tonearm could be purchased, I’ll consider going ahead and squeezing out the additional monies to get the VPI dual pivot mod.

I need to be fiscally responsible. So getting a new tonearm may only happen some time from now due to other expenses I’m needing to deal with outside of audio upgrades, $170 for the dual pivot mod.is not that much more, so i could probably pull that off without ending up in debtors’ prison.

Mike

dover
2,265 posts
 

@skyscraper

If you were going to spend $4k on a cartridge and then $4k on another arm down the road - you would be better off buying a new turntable/arm package. None of the VPI arms are that great, and a change requires new armboard etc.

My recommendation would be to buy the dual pivot option and new cartridge.

Down the road reevaluate arm upgrade vs new TT/arm.

Something like Feickert/Kuzma 4Point9 combo down the line would far exceed the VPI combos at a reasonable price.

I would argue that an upgrade to Fieckert/Kuzma with a $1k cartridge ( example Audio Technica ART9 ) would give you a better overall result than buy-in a $4k cartridge now.

 

 

 

skyscraper OP
831 posts
 

Dover, appreciate your advice. Another factor is installing the dual pivot changes settings like the azimuth etc. So since I’m going to have the tone arm set up professionally done, I’d need to get the dual pivot mod in place prior to having my newly purchased Lyra Kleos installed. That’s why I’ve go to make a decision on getting the mod now. as it can’t simply be installed as an add-on. I’ll have a little leeway as it will take some time for a Lyra to get here from Japan.

Not to appear stupid, but it can’t be helped, What part of a tonearm assembly. constitutes the "armband" you mentioned? That piece of info will begin my education on tonearms. Thanks,

Mike

 

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