New Lyra Delos Cartridge

Much appreciated!

jcarr, these posts are of great interest! Thanks. I'm on my 4th Lyra now (lydian b, helicon 2 skala's one had a tragic accident:). From your above post I changed my VTA/VTF on my Tri Planar, since temps have changed, it did help !

Changing the loading on my phono stage isn't easy, but I'll try your suggestions above as starting points. My dealer may have already nailed the best sound, but tinkering here can only confirm or improve.

When can you commment on other changes in your line up?

jcarr.
from your post above concerning stylus profile and body construction I get the impression that the Delos is very much a budget cartridge.
It and the Dorian are the only ones not using your custom stylus.
(I understand that all but the very top of a line are built to a budget)
I am therefore curious as to why you recommended it over my original choice of the Argo i which I can purchase for about the same price as the Delos.
Many thanks.

Mr. Carr,

Excellent elucidation of the intricacies of cartridge loading; much appreciated and a "must-read" for everyone interested.

-Richard

Dear Nrenter:

>Does the diagram out on AudioNord accurately imply the your front magnet structure is larger (stonger) than in the typical MC cartridge, and therefore allows for less mass in your coils & iron core) for a similar output?

A typical MC cartridge doesn't have a front magnet (or a rear magnet). With the exception of yokeless designs, most MC's have a single magnet which is mounted asymmetrically relative to the gap. The asymmetrical mounting of this magnet makes it unlikely that the flux across the gap can be made symmetrical. Years ago, I analyzed this by building traditional, single-magnet prototype cartridges with 4 independent signal coils, placing one coil in each quadrant of the gap. In such a prototype, if the cantilever is driven with a mono LP, the signal output from each coil should be identical. Observation showed that this doesn't happen. What happens is that the outputs of the coils farther away from the magnet are reduced in level but lower in distortion, while the output of the coils closer to the magnet are increased in level and have higher distortion. In a yokeless design (which includes all present Lyras with the exception of the Olympos), the differences in individual coil outputs are notably reduced. When I introduced our first yokeless cartridge (Clavis DC), tracking performance improved as well as distortion, and we were able to reduce our recommended tracking weight. This was because the dual-magnet yokeless design made the flux forces more consistent across the entire coil former.

The Delos' unique damper, suspension and body design achieve better orientation of the coil former, which achieves a further improvement in consistency of flux forces across the entire coil former. Once again, for the same vertical tracking force, the tracking performance that can be obtained improves.

Although I admit that less moving mass in the coils and coil former is worthwhile, it doesn't mean so much if inadequate magnet circuit design or improper coil former orientation results in uneven flux forces pulling the coil former more in certain directions than others. Greater output levels and less moving mass are desirable attributes, but the reduction of distortion is a higher priority (for me).

kind regards