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Hana Umami Red or Lyra Kleos?

I’ve found out about two or three cartridges in my price range of $3000 -$4000 that should work well within the limitations of my Luxman 505uX Mk II’s built in phono stage. The other cartridge is the Soundsmith "The Voice" MI cartridge. Next I’ve had to figure out which are also compatible with my VPI Classic 2’s JMW 10.5i tonearm (with or without the VPI two pivot mod).

I’ve been informed off my short list, the Hana Umani Red and the Lyra Kleos both appear to have the right specs to be appropriate candidates for use with the VPI JMW 10.5i, However the Soundsmith "The Voice" would have weight and/or compliance issues.

Have any of you advice as to which of either the Hana Umami Red or Lyra Kleos MC cartridges you might prefer? I’m pretty sure these are both excellent choices, but may have some differences you might be able to point out, I’m a bit disappointed the Soundsmith "The Voice" might not match up well with the VPI JMW 10.5i tonearm, but so it goes. Thanks for any advice and sharing your experience with either of these cartridges.

Mike

skyscraper

Showing 1 response by pilrem

pilrem
40 posts
 

FWIW, I had a Lyra Delos mounted on a JMW 10.5i on my VPI Aries 3. I really like the uni-pivot arm and it was rock solid. I didn’t run any anti-skate and the delos tracked great and sounded excellent to me. I am using very nice lateral rack and have HRS E1 isolation bases under everything. I am on a concrete slab so the rack is spiked directly to the concrete.

I did have the aries table on a lesser rack on a wooden floor and the uni-pivot arm danced around a bit but settled in. A bit off topic, I wonder if those who don't like uni-pivot arms tend to have systems not on concrete? 

I would buy another Lyra in a heartbeat.

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