Moving coil with a bit less leading edge

So I was am not surprised that it came to this. I am guessing that the Delos will keep getting more enjoyable. I went through this same experience where the Delos was almost intollerable. I fiddled around for 6 weeks with loading, tubes, cartridge / tonearm setup. As the cartridge slowly broke in I undid the soft tubes, the extreme VTA adjustments, and finally the SUT load resisters. It sounds great now. I am listening to Rostaprovich and Ozawa on Erato doing the Dvorak concerto. It is beautiful. I hope it progresses in the same way for you.

I just reread the thread. It was Pani who had problems with the Delos. So my comments are meant for him. Good luck with the Dynavector.

Thanks Ttbolad...and you gotta love that Dvorak Cello Concerto!!!

On western classical music I too enjoy the Delos a lot. The startling dynamics this cartridge brings to the table really helps a lot in reproduction of western classical. Where I find its flaws to be prominent is while listening to classic rock (Led Zep, Knopfler) and more pop-ish recordings. I also find it lacking when playing string instruments, I hear more edge and less body.

I agree with people who say that live music has a very crisp sound but it also has a tremendous body which is very difficult to detach from the leading edge. The edge and the body are one coherent entity, we dont hear the edge separately from the body in a real instrument. It is a one whole thing which is crispy, full bodied and rich at the same time. Trying to hear the same effect at home is great but when one starts hearing the leading edge as a separate entity (due to cartridge, phono or whatever else) then it is no more natural. A reasoning that live instrument is crisp may not be a good one in such a case. Many times one has to choose between leading edge and body, that is when opinions split.

I am getting crisp, full bodied, rich sound on all genres from classic rock to western classical, jazz to Indian classical, gamelan to Techno, western country to Celtic. If you want to try something that has the potential to burn your ears, try Ram Narayan playing sarangi.

So I can only say that it took a very long time for my Delos to settle in. I was so irritated after the first two weeks that I contacted the distributor and manufacturer. From my description of the sound and my setup they agreed to letting me return it for an inspection. I came very close to doing that.

I listened to a record last night that is far harder to get right than Led Zep. It is Bruch's Scottish Fantasia with David Oistrakh and the London Symphony, CS 6337 Blueback. That recording has very high screech potential. It sounded fabulous through the Delos. Followed that up with Spam Allstars (high energy techno-jazz with Pee Wee Ellis); then Travis Tritt (country / southern rock). Got a lot of pleasure listening through the Delos.

I should mention that I added a K&K Lundahl 1941 SUT when I got the Delos. So I am not sure which of the pieces was having the break in problem. Could be that they both were.

In any case, if you have less than 100 hours on the Delos, you may want to stick with it a while longer.