I got a chance to have JC3+ for a week to test in home. It was being actively used by my dealer for well over 6 months so it was ready to go when I got it.
I used it with a ART9 cart so that is .5mV the same as your Lyra.
Sounds on the JC3+ are very good. Tonally it sounded correct with very good high extension, Bass was good, with forceful impact when needed. Mids were detailed, which tends to leads to slightly more prominent vocals but it never sounds too much. Overall it was an excellent premap, really if you are looking at a Preamp under $3K It's about as good as you are going to get, it sounds great,. It has lots of options, variable loading, 12v trigger, inverted polarity on the AC input, defeatable front panel illumination, balanced and unbalanced outputs.
It does have some high gain though, I think some of the good dynamics it is able to get has to do with the high gain that the preamp delivers. Although I never had it overload anything, my system definitely played loader with the JC3+ in it than with some other premaps I have had.
If you can demo it, I would. Even if you have to buy it outright, as long as you can return it think you will probably end up keeping it. It is really an excellent premap for the price.
HTH
I used it with a ART9 cart so that is .5mV the same as your Lyra.
Sounds on the JC3+ are very good. Tonally it sounded correct with very good high extension, Bass was good, with forceful impact when needed. Mids were detailed, which tends to leads to slightly more prominent vocals but it never sounds too much. Overall it was an excellent premap, really if you are looking at a Preamp under $3K It's about as good as you are going to get, it sounds great,. It has lots of options, variable loading, 12v trigger, inverted polarity on the AC input, defeatable front panel illumination, balanced and unbalanced outputs.
It does have some high gain though, I think some of the good dynamics it is able to get has to do with the high gain that the preamp delivers. Although I never had it overload anything, my system definitely played loader with the JC3+ in it than with some other premaps I have had.
If you can demo it, I would. Even if you have to buy it outright, as long as you can return it think you will probably end up keeping it. It is really an excellent premap for the price.
HTH