Lyra Delos Stylus Replacement Options

My dealer told me Lyras last quite long and 3K as Raul suggested is a reasonable estimate if you take a good care of the cart. Mine has more or less 2,000 hrs on it, and I hear no deterioration in the sound.

My Q is really directed to members who own the Delos. What is the useful life of the stylus, 1500hrs to 2000hrs?? When the useful life of stylus is expended, what are the options for stylus or cantilever replacement and cost?

Well, Lyras have a very good quality control and they last very long when the usual care is done (correct setting, VTA, Antiskate, no maid cleaning the System). I used some for years, no idea about the hours but none went ever weak. Have contacts with the owners and they are still running strong. My Delos is from the 1. Series and it is like new.

I'm considering both the Zephyr and the Delos as my next cart for my VPI Classic 1. Currently running an Ortofon 2M Black. Not to take the conversation off course, but would you mind briefly sharing your experiences with both in a bit more detail?

In particular, would you say that one is "warmer/richer" than the other?

Chip, I think the Delos is a better sounding carty than the Zephyr from the perspective of bass slam, bass definition, transparency, imaging and ability to extract details out of the grooves. But having said that, the Zephyr is a very, very fine cartridge at its price point of $1K, which is $650 less than the Delos.

You asked about which carty is warmer/richer. I suppose the Zephyr wins out there, but only because the Delos possesses the attributes I listed above. Given the choice between just the two carties, I'd go for the Delos, at least based on my initial impressions of listening for 3 or 4 days.

Btw, I own the VPI Classic 2.5 (check my system description). Both cartridges are a good match with the Classic tonearm. When I tried the Ortofon 2M Black several years ago, I didn't have much luck in setting it up. For some reason, I think it has a compliance factor of 22 or more, which makes it a tough match with the VPI tonearm. The VPI is really best suited for low and medium compliance carties.

What's with the "carty" thing. Is it like "vinyls"?