Lyra 'house sound'

Are you planning on running the cartridge directly into your Giscours?

The Delos worked well with my Monbrison, the Lyra Argo did not work at all. The step-up in the Monbrison has been optimized for a very low load (SPU or Miyabi).

Oh boy, Restock. Yes, the Kleos will go straight in. My current cartridge (Audioquest 7000nsx, born in 1995 - I know, I know) does the job quite nicely - it's .3mV. And I recall the Kleos is .5mv?

Why, pray tell, did you have a problem with the Argo into the Shindo ? I mean, translate for me the technical part about low load. I just happen to have an Expressive Technologies SUT (a 30-lb monster costing $3K back in the day) which I don't use and would rather not. Did you need a SUT ?

Don't the Kleos ( I have one) and the Delos buck the Lyra "House Sound" ? I have not heard the Skala, but I have heard the Helikon and Dorian. Until I heard the Kleos, I always assumed you could have warmth or detail but not both.

And to my ears and in my system, it is not like old style Grado warmth or classic tube warmth. It is fullness but not bloat with an extended top and bottom. Quite seductive.

I am experimenting with a Jolida JD9 phono pre and the Kleos is not dark through that. Put in NOS 5751's and am about to try those so I will see what changes.

With "load" I meant the internal impedance of the cartridge. The step-up that is built into the Shindo is optimized for low impedance cartridges 2-6Ohm is about ideal. Some higher impedance ones may still work but it may become worth experimenting with external step-ups as well. Loading is not the only important things as the Argo and Delos are close but the Argo was less than ideal.

I never got the Argo to work that well with the Monbrison and ended up using my Allaerts exclusively with an Auditorium 23 external step-up (which is close to optimal for the Allaerts). Recently I got the Lyra Delos as a backup cartridge as I always liked the dynamic, lively and direct house sound. The Delos works surprisingly well into the Monbrison and has just the right balance of live and dynamic, body and textures. Since the Kleos is somewhat close to the Delos I would hope it may work as well, but it does have slightly different electrical characteristics.

OK - I'm not hearing any forum feedback that would indicate problems with the Kleos / Shindo Giscours, either electrically or aurally. The final and only valid assessment arises from actually hearing the synergy, which I hope to do very very soon. And then maybe I can feed back my experience which might be as helpful to others.