Anyone using a Lyra Delos yet?

i measured the capacitance of the tonearm cable by disconnecting the cable from the cartridge terminals and measuring capacitance at the +/- leads of the rca connector with a multimeter.

this discussion has become badly confused. the tonearm cable presents a capacitance across the +/- leads of the rca input at the phono stage. jonathan carr provided an explanation on how this can influence the performance of your phono stage in a previous comment in this thread, so i would encourage interested parties to look through some of jonathan's earlier comments because he gave a really good explanation that i am not going to attempt to repeat here.

in any event, a capacitance measured across the +/- leads at the rca input of the phono stage represents a capacitance that would be *in parallel* with the capacitance presented by the tonearm cable. therefore, you can get a measure of the effective capacitance at the rca input by *adding* the capacitance of the tonearm cable and the capacitance measured across the +/- leads of the rca input. you can then use that effective capacitiance in conjunction with the instructions the come with the lyra delos cartridge to set the input impedance level at the phono stage.

just because you can see a 220pf capacitor on the circuit board does not mean that the capacitance across the +/- leads of the rca input is 220pf. in my case, i attempted to measure the input capacitance at the whest phono stage with the power turned off because i was hoping for a simple measurement. it is simply not worth my while to attmept to model the effective capacitance of active devices on the circuit board to come up with a presumably more "precise" value; first, i don't have a schematic of the phono stage circuit board, and second, i wouldn't spend the time to come up with such a capacitance estimate if i did have the schematic.

given the amount of confusion that seems to have arisen, i would suggest that those who have a triplanar tonearm use a capacitance value of about 80pf for the 1 meter tonearm cable and assume the input capacitance of the phono stage to be 0pf. then you can use the 80pf value with the lyra delos instructions and set the phono stage input impedance accordingly.

Paperw8 : "You'll get better dynamics but i think that 470 ohms is a bit bright. i had previously been using an effective load impedance of about 363 ohms. i am currently using an effective load impedance of 455 about ohms but may go back to 363 ohms after a while."

Indeed...my findings also Pw8. 220 initially seemed a little too bright but I had a feeling VTA needed further dialling in and it's pretty much there now. Azimuth and bias have taken some time because it's such a tolerant cartridge. Now that it's nearly there it's starting to sound like a very smooth tracker....Even though my MMIII has a similar stylus profile it's much more critical before it snaps into focus. It's a pleasure to "rediscover" MC with the Delos. It's my first Lyra but may not be the last...
I agree with the guys who say take the HFN/RR test disc tracking tests with a pinch of salt. The Lyra appears unexceptional when tracing test tracks (at the average VTF) but on music sounds unshakeable without necessarily having everything dialled in yet.
Best.....................M.

..Having said that, tracking seems to be improving as the cartridge runs in. I revisited the HFN/RR test disc without changing anything (minimal adjust on the bias) and it seemed to have almost cleared the 2nd band this time, only an hour or so after the previous check. (I've reached a staggering 5 hrs on the clock now).
The Delos does naturally sit low, but my last cart had about the same ground clearance at this stage. Provided the suspension doesn't settle any further or start colliding with warps it should be tolerable.
I've been playing my worst albums - albums which normally don't excite the listener too much for whatever rationalisations e.g. suspected "poor pressing", and the Delos is turning each into "a performance". There have been more than a few spellbinding moments.
Cheers..............M.

I too am thinking of putting a Delos or a Keos on a Scoutmaster with JMW 9 Signature. I have the VPI/Dynavector cart on one wand and a Shelter 501 II on another. To add weight I had my dealer add a shim (from VPI I believe)between the cart and the arm.

The VPI/Dynavector is devoid of highs to my 55yr old ears compared to cd's or DVDA through the same amp/speakers. The Shelter lacks dynamics, noticeable on drum hits and the like. I have tried different cables, phono preamps and loadings.

Maybe Mr. Carr can lend us his thoughts on this combo or has someone actually tried it? Not looking for utmost detail, need upper highs and some slam with somewhat warm mids. Seems as Delos and Keos might have those characteristics.

Thanks,
Robert

Just mounted a Delos on my SME 309 tonearm with vdHul D-501 Hybrid cable from the armbase to my Audio Research PH3 RIAA. So far I am loading with 100 Ohm tantal resistors. The vdH cable has a capacitance of 75 pF/m - I have no idea og the capaciatance of the internal wire in the arm - anyone?
So according to the manual my load should be in the 200-390 Ohm range - pending what total capacitance is - I just read that it is a total of 155 pF - giving a load range of 330-160 Ohm. Gotta try this, when it has a bit more mileage on it...