ZYX Airy 3x/SB vs. Dynavector XV-1 or 1s

I have about 150 hours on the ZYX. It has pretty much stabilized at about the 100 - 120 hour point.

Typically the Zyx Airy 3x SB takes nearly 300 hours to break in. I noticed a real improvement between 200 and 300 hours.

Brightness was never an issue in my setup though, so I'm not sure if the additional time will alleviate this issue.

That's encouraging news, Nrchy. Looks like there is hope with my current setup. Thanks.

In the system where the Airy 3 was too bright we found an impedance of 75 ohms better than 100. Try something like that if you can.

Listen to SirSpeedy re: the Graham damping fluid. We were adjusting and hearing changes with amounts far smaller than a drop. Dip a toothpick in and scrape some of that onto the pivot. Be very careful not to drip any of it against the sides of the well. It will take forever to settle back down.

Unless you're in a very warm climate, 1.90g may be insufficient downforce. My UNIverse is currently happy at about 2.05g. Very small changes will be audible here too.

A nose-up orientation is not optimal for any ZYX I've heard. They like to be level (referring to the cartridge body, not the arm tube). OTOH I wouldn't expect this to cause brightness. Nose-down does that.

Keep on tweakin'!

Doug, Speedy and others have covered the salient points.

Let me add, that you will not side step your problem by switching to the XV-1s.

I love the Dynavectors, with the XV-1s (along with my trusty Denon 103R) being the only other cartridge I'd consider other than a ZYX at this point (I'm not saying there aren't others ... just that I haven't heard them).

If anything, the Dyna will be harder to tame on your 2.2. I lived with this combo for about 7 weeks last year.

Keep with the ZYX and work through your loading and damping issues.

One other point that has reared its ugly face in bold relief over the last 6 months ... how many highly regarded phono stages are fatally flawed. Names witheld to protect the guilty, many of these products receive continual great reviews and have wide acceptance and high price tags.

You'd be amazed to discover that what you had previously considered to be either a flawed setup, tracing distortion, or a bad cartridge is in fact a phono stage with excessive slewing distortion. I kid you not ... Get together with your local audio buddies and swap phono stages.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier