Anyone using a Lyra Delos yet?

>>11-27-10: Paperw8
i can say that the bass response from my setup is comparable to that of a cd player.<<

Huh?
No cd player can approach the bottom end of a properly set-up vinyl front end.

>>cartridges are consummables in that you have to replace them after a few years of use<<

Not true.
Most stylii should go 4000 hours (or more) if aligned correctly. You will need to listen for 5 1/2 hours every day for 2 years in order to reach 4000 hours. Most people come nowhere near that. In fact, the majority of audiophiles trade up or sell their cartridge before it needs re-tipping.

>>the idea of spending $10,000 for a cartridge that i will likely have to replace in a few years is like lighting cigars with $100 bills<<

And you probably should not unless your system is uber-sophisticated. There is no rhyme or reason to install a $10K cartridge on anything but a reference level table/arm. You wouldn't buy racing tires for a Taurus right?

Paperw8, I'm also starting to use a Delos into the Whest (although not the dual transformer version) on the 55db setting. I sympathise with the value-for-money argument that this design represents.

I must admit that I agonised over the best choice of VTA vs VTF with this cartridge given Jonathan's recommendations. My arm has VTA adjustment capability on-the-fly but, like many others, I'm disinclined to constantly mess around with it. So, I was initially thinking 150g record as a ref with VTF at 1.75g and allowing a slight deviation on 120g/180g. Since most of my records are 120g I finally decided it was better to use 120g as Ref and accept a slightly larger hit on 180g, still within the cartridge's operating range.

Ultimately, if this proves unsatisfactory I could organise the occasional 180g "month/week" :D :D, nesting all the 180's together in one session and adjust the VTA tower on a one-off basis :D

Of course all this is academic if it turns out it sounds better at 1.77g (!! :D)
Cheers....

11-28-10: Audiofeil
No cd player can approach the bottom end of a properly set-up vinyl front end.

that hasn't been my experience.

11-28-10: Moonglum
Paperw8, I'm also starting to use a Delos into the Whest (although not the dual transformer version) on the 55db setting.

55dB will send a signal of about 1/3 volt to the preamplifier where 60dB sends a signal of about 0.6 volts to the preamplifier. the difference is that in the former case you will have to turn the volume control higher to achieve a given sound pressure level from your speakers. as far as i can tell, a lot of it is a matter of preference and matching signal amplitude levels with other sources. in my case, my preamplifier has an input sensitivity of 0.5 volt and i wanted to make the signal amplitude level from the phono stage comparable to that of my cd player. that said, from what i've observed, using the minimum phono stage gain value seems advantageous since you can compensate in the preamplifier, which works with a large signal than that coming from the cartridge.

as to on-the-fly vta adjustment capability, i suppose the idea is that the tonearm makes the adjustment so gradually that it doesn't damage the cartridge, but i am still disinclined to use the capability. i don't do vta on a per-record basis either although a good vta can make a noticeable difference in sound reproduction. it can be a bit of a hassle because depending on how much you change the vta you might also have to readjust the vtf. i pretty much set the vtf in the middle of the range so that the tonearm stays stable on difficult-to-track records.

>>11-28-10: Paperw8
that hasn't been my experience.<<

Fair enough.

You need more experience.