Shelter 501 versus Soundsmith Zephr ?

Agree with Patsua. The Zephyr was my primary cartridge for quite some time until I got hooked this Spring on Lyra cartridges. I started with the Lyra Delos and moved up to the Kleos. I think the Lyra cartridges sound better on my set-up. My vinyl set up is a hot-rodded basic Classic TT with a Classic 3 tone arm. The rest of my rig is descried in my system link.

Having said that, I've read many Forum post where folks just rave about the S-S Paua cartridge. I definitely have to try the Paua, but when I spring for it, I'll ask Peter Ledermann if he can hot-rod the output to .5 or more mV because the stock job is rated at .3 mV which is too low for my phono pre.

The Zephyr gets an A+ grade from me as a top performer with VPI JMW tone arms at its price point ($1K). It's a shame the Paua costs $3800. That's a pretty big jump in cost to go to the next level. Ergo why I tried the Lyra cartridges. But, I still have my newly re-tipped Zephyr as a back-up.

The Shelter does not work with JMW arms. It sounds great most of the time, but there is undoubtedly a compliance mismatch. Which JMW arm do you have? The Zephyr might not be a good choice either if you have the standard 9 or 9t. Call VPI.

FYI: The Zephyr has been upgraded to a MK II version. I think the new model switched out the aluminum cantilever for boron. I surmise, as good as the Zephyr was, .... the MK II version may sound even better. If anyone has sprung for the new MK II, please post your comments.