Taking the Taurus up a notch: Adding Lyra Etna Lambda SL

[Kuoppis]

Well, a long time I thought this level carts are a ‘Mike’ thing. You run a high-end audio shop, then you get to have this kind of phono cartridge. I felt a little bit like, maybe that’s not in the cards for me. But today, brand new from Japan, I added the latest spec Lyra Etna Lambda SL to my system.

While the cart is in general very well made, this time also the cart cover is easy to operate and actually protects the cart. We heard recently from a fellow audiophile, how he broke off his stylus trying to put the stylus protector on (different brand cart).

As you can see, with the Lambda series, the Lyra color scheme has changed. The Etna and Etna SL are now yellow, while the Atlases became purple.

Setup was a breeze. While Lyra gives you a tracking force range, they also say you want to set it to 1.72g. For now I kept cart loading in my pre as it was, as there is just 0.1mV difference between the Benz and the Lyra. I might experiment with that a bit more later. Lyra recommendation is anyway to play it by the ear, set it to whatever sounds good to you.

However, I had to replace the largest tonearm weight ring with two smaller ones to get tracking force right, w/o having to move the weight too close to the arm’s Breuer mechanism. Quite fickle work to adjust tracking force to the tenth of a gram moving the rings around.

So, how does it sound? In a word: heavenly. While the Benz Micro Gullwing SLR is a really great cart, the Lyra brings out subtle details even better. Experienced people having reviewed the cart say it is almost ready out-of-the-box, and does not change its sound than much during burn-in. So far I can’t complain, a very good and highly recommended purchase. Some say, this is currently the cart to compare others to. Tend to agree.

As you see, the wonderful Gerry Mulligan meets Ben Webster in an Analogue Productions pressing got the honors being the first album played. The system does the album justice, and vice versa. Just gorgeous.

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[Kuoppis]

I saved this magnificent Grammy-winning vinyl to be played for the first time when I have received my new cart.

Worth the wait, it sounds simply gorgeous.

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[Randy Myers]

Congratulations! It sounds like a fantastic cartridge!

Unfortunately $10k is a bit high for a cartridge for me at this time. I am in the beginning stage of researching a new cartridge for my table. My top end would be give or take about 1/10th that price .

 

[Kuoppis]

Congratulations! It sounds like a fantastic cartridge!

Unfortunately $10k is a bit high for a cartridge for me at this time. I am in the beginning stage of researching a new cartridge for my table. My top end would be give or take about 1/10th that price .

You can get a very good cart for 1K. I hear the Lyra Delos is also very nice. It’s maybe a bit above, but might be interesting.


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[Randy Myers]

You can get a very good cart for 1K. I hear the Lyra Delos is also very nice. It’s maybe a bit above, but might be interesting.

Hehe, twice that. It is $1995; their lowest price from what I can see .

I don't want to take over your thread. This is about your wonderful new cartridge, which looks fantastic!!! I will probably start another thread to discuss possible chooses.

 

[gardener1]

Congratulations

Fantastic cartridge .

 

[XV-1]

Hi Kuoppis

Welcome to the Lyra club!! I had no doubt you would be happy with the purchase.

I have been back on the Lyra train for about 8 years now, and won't be getting off any time soon. I look forward to getting my Atlas SL in Lambda spec in the next few months. here it is packed up.

 

[Kuoppis]

Kuoppis

Welcome to the Lyra club!! I had no doubt you would be happy with the purchase.

I have been back on the Lyra train for about 8 years now, and won't be getting off any time soon. I look forward to getting my Atlas SL in Lambda spec in the next few months. here it is packed up.

Thanks Shane, this is a club I happily join!

The Etna SL in Lambda spec is really outstanding, already at this early stage. I’m sure it will continue to improve when getting more hours on it.

What is already now impressive is how deep it digs into the groove. The low level information the Etna SL is able to extract is phenomenal, the bass is just superb. But also the transient information that becomes available continues to amaze me.

PS: You really have the entire portfolio at your disposal. Nice!

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[Kuoppis]

Re-doing the set-up. I usually do this a couple of times with every new cart, just to make sure everything is perfect. And verifying image and the anti-skating setting with my digital system.

Well, actual purpose is to give my significant other one more opportunity to obsess about how I “...bend over my TT with a light, magnifying glass, scale and everything - oh my god.” [emoji3]

And it sounds perfect. After one day’s playing the treble opens up a bit more as well. Magnificent level of detail, texture and abundance of ambient information. This is an amazing cart.

PS: After listening-in for a while, my wife now wants to listen to some Diana Krall together in the evening. So, there you go.


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[Kuoppis]

This cart is easy to cue up due to the asymmetrically placed brass allen screw on the front side. Also in low-light conditions in the evening. Not unsmart.

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[UltraFast69]

Good to hear your enjoying the new cartridge.

Out of curiosity if you did not already say, what drove the change and how did you know this was for you?

Cartridges seem to be a hard one at least for me, but I have little experience.




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[Mike]

Congrats. I love my Lyra Atlas SL. Just wait until you have 100+ hours on it. You won’t believe it.


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[Kuoppis]

Good to hear your enjoying the new cartridge.

Out of curiosity if you did not already say, what drove the change and how did you know this was for you?

Cartridges seem to be a hard one at least for me, but I have little experience.




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That‘s a wonderful question, thank you.

First of all, I try to attend shows and listen to stuff. Over time you do develop an accumulated understanding of the house sound of a manufacturer like Ortofon, Dynavector or Lyra. Then you might actually get to hear products in good quality demos at shows, dealers or in private settings.

Secondly, I read a lot. Similarly you do get to understand what traits certain reviewers appreciate, which helps to understand their reviews better. While reviews are by no means absolute, people who do that for living, do get to hear more variants of a thing than most audiophiles. Then there are important exchanges and views from fellow audiophiles, which greatly helps to inform my personal understanding.

And finally, there are the personal views about manufacturers, their issues and strengths, and how those might fit into my system.

So, all in all, I think it‘s an educated guess until something arrives in your actual system. I could imagine people very rarely get the opportunity to actually test a 10K cart in your own system before buying it. It might be hit-and-miss sometimes, but so far I have been lucky, as I rarely do experience that.

This one at least, is a home run. Or more so, hitting it out of the ball park [emoji3].


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[Kuoppis]

Congrats. I love my Lyra Atlas SL. Just wait until you have 100+ hours on it. You won’t believe it.


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Mike, I’m working on it - hard [emoji3]. One of the few upsides of the pandemic is, that you might actually gain more opportunity to spend time with your system. That’s why I also posted a picture of the Etna SL package in the Corona buster thread.

And so far I do love it. I already hear it opening up. But I’m excited to get to the 100 hours, if you say that this is where real music starts to play.

Thank you for your support and advise along the road, Mike.


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[Randy Myers]

That is awesome!

I think all of us go through similar processes. One difference being the availability of actually looking and touching. Many of us do not have any shops remotely close to us and shows honestly not close either. So we read, discuss, get opinions, etc.

In the end it is a crap shoot based on as educated guess as we can do. Weather it is $1k or $10 none of us like feeling like we did not get value. Also $10k to one person may very well be the same as $1k to another... but we all do the best we can. And we all want to find the diamond in the rough, to hit the home run so to speak .

I have bought products that just didn't do it for me; nothing wrong with them just not for me. PS Audio was a good example. I have also bought products that I liked and could have lived with for the long term, such as the McIntosh integrated amp; but for one reason or another just didn't work out. And I have bought products that are way beyond my wildest dreams... the true diamond in the rough or home run.... the T+A DAC for example.

I am hoping that I find a cartridge that does this for me in a budget I can afford .

Again, congratulations on your Home Run... simply awesome!

 

[Kuoppis]

Another new album arriving with the new cart: Blicher Hemmer Gadd/ Omara. This one I purchased during the social distancing streaming concert played in honor of Steve Gadd’s 75th last Thursday.

Very nice small combo jazz.

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[Kuoppis]

That is awesome!

I think all of us go through similar processes. One difference being the availability of actually looking and touching. Many of us do not have any shops remotely close to us and shows honestly not close either. So we read, discuss, get opinions, etc.

In the end it is a crap shoot based on as educated guess as we can do. Weather it is $1k or $10 none of us like feeling like we did not get value. Also $10k to one person may very well be the same as $1k to another... but we all do the best we can. And we all want to find the diamond in the rough, to hit the home run so to speak .

I have bought products that just didn't do it for me; nothing wrong with them just not for me. PS Audio was a good example. I have also bought products that I liked and could have lived with for the long term, such as the McIntosh integrated amp; but for one reason or another just didn't work out. And I have bought products that are way beyond my wildest dreams... the true diamond in the rough or home run.... the T+A DAC for example.

I am hoping that I find a cartridge that does this for me in a budget I can afford .

Again, congratulations on your Home Run... simply awesome!

Randy, thank you for participating in my journey and taking interest. You put it absolutely right, the point is not whether you pay 1K or 10K, but rather to ensure you get the maximum out of whatever you decide to put in.

I’m looking forward to discussing your new cart when you have made up your mind [emoji3].


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[Randy Myers]

That will probably be my next step. After the new pre-amp settles in.

 

[Kuoppis]

I took the Lyra setting from 500 (where I ran the Benz Gullwing SLR with its 0.35 mV) to 400 yesterday. I think this is commensurate to the Etna SL’s slightly lower 0.25 mV sensitivity.

The effect is superb, a tad more texture on sax and trumpet, piano and tomtoms sound a bit rounder, stand-up bass plucks are plummier. Without however veering into romantic territory, which anyhow is not where the Etna SL plays at.

Really superb cart I must say.


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[Kuoppis]

To celebrate my new Etna SL Lambda cart, I got a pack of the in Europe prohibitively expensive Music Matters Jazz 45 rpm Blue Note re-issues Mike has been raving about. Mastered from original master tapes of course.

Let’s see how they sound.

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