New Lyra Delos Cartridge

A question for Jonathan : Given the propensity of some for zero bias in favour of excessive VTF (way beyond manufacturers recommendations) how does this philosophy reconcile with the normal Delos/Kleos setup procedure of setting the cart at an average/optimal VTF to centralise the cantilever within the generator?

I have been fighting with loading the Delos. In my setup the only way that I could get it to sound right (meaning neutral spectral balance and tamed transients) was as follows: 1x10 setup ratio, and a 0.5k - 1.5k loading paralleled to the 47k on the tube preamp. The resultant 5 -15 ohm load works. But I had never loaded a cartridge this low before. For that reason I did not trust what I was hearing. I finally stumbled on this thread after I had convinced myself that this was the right answer for my setup.

Reassuring to come to the same numbers and same questions that restock mentioned.

Actually, I am wondering if the settings I mentioned above make sense. It seems that the instruction suggest that 91 ohms is the minimum setting with the Delos. That does not work for me. Too aggressive on the transients, a glare on the natural timbre of instruments. So why am I finding that I need to use these low settings?

I will note that on a solid state phono preamp (a prototype which allows for 67dB of gain) -same arm, wiring and table, the Delos seems pretty insensitive to load. With that preamp (no transformers) anything from 100 to 47k works pretty well.

The setup I am using is a Denon AU-340 SUT (40 ohms setting which is 1x10) into a Audio Innovations P2 phono preamp with a 47k input load. The phono cable is a straight shot of Discovery tone arm wire from the cartridge to the SUT - no other junctions - about three feet.

One thing that I should also mention is that the greater the load, the lower the output from the cartridge. So if you load the cartridge as much I seem to have to do, the input to the preamp drops significantly. This means that with more loading you can actually use a 1x20 ratio without having to worry about overloading the phono preamp.

I use the 1x10 though. But with the P2 phono preamp I can use a 12AX7 instead of a 12AU7 in the second gain stage to make up for the signal loss due to loading.

Any ideas as to why this amount of loading is necessary for me to get accurate timbre and non-aggressive transients?

Maybe something else in your system. However, I do load my Delos at the lowest load my phono preamps are capable of. I use a PS audio GCPH and Simaudio LP5.3.

The Audioquest VP suggested to me to try the 500 - 1000 ohm range; the Lyras do not like low resistance. He has his set at 1000 ohms.