Lewm,
The hierarchy of ZYX models (by price) is:
UNIverse
Atmos
Airy 3
Airy 2
R100 Fuji
A zillion lower priced models you didn't ask about ;-)
All of the above use the same microridge stylus (contrary to Dan_Ed's statement), as do all ZYX models above the entry level Bloom, which uses a less costly elliptical.
All five of the above can be ordered in either Low Output (.24mv/4 ohms) or High Output (.48mv/8 ohms). There's no price difference. As I reported here (and tipped off Arthur Salvatore after I saw his unenthusiastic writeup of the HO UNIverse), the LO models substantially outperform their HO brethren. The superiority of the LO is so great that, on my advice, Mehran does not even stock HO UNIverse or Atmos (not sure about the others). Footnote: ZYX uses a non-standard test record that produces cartridge output specs much lower than what other cartridge brands would report. To get a comparative spec or for phono gain calculaton purposes, you have to multiply a ZYX output spec by 1.42, so .24mv becomes .34mv and .48mv becomes .68.
All five of the above can be ordered with gold (G), silver (S) or copper (X) coils. There's no price difference. Mehran stocks the copper and some silver, gold is special order. For all models, copper is fastest, least bloated, most natural, most revealing. Silver is slower, somewhat smoothed, a bit Koetsu-ish. Gold is slowest, quite smoothed, quite Koetsu-ish.
All five of the above can be ordered with no extra weight (cartridge weighs ~5 oz.), silver weight (SB, cartridge weighs ~9 oz.) or gold weight (GB, cartridge weighs, um, MORE than 9 oz.!). The SB costs extra, the GB costs even more. Mehran stocks the SB, GB and weight-less are both special order. Which is best depends on the tonearm. For a ZYX, the ideal setup is tonearm eff. mass + weight of cartridge + extra weight (if any) = 22-25 grams. A popular and very successful combo is TriPlanar + ZYX with SB, which works out to 11 + 9 = 20g. A bit light in theory but excellent in practice.
BTW, Oscilloscopium's theory that a ZYX likes a lighter arm because it's light itself is incorrect. Not correct in theory and not the best combo in practice. An unweighted (5g) ZYX will perform best on an arm with an eff. mass of 18-20g or so, which is nobody's idea of light.
For sonic comparisons of Airy 2, Airy 3, Atmos and UNIverse, read the reviews beneath my signature.
Doug
P.S. For interpretations of Redtop and his comments, see Dan_Ed!
The hierarchy of ZYX models (by price) is:
UNIverse
Atmos
Airy 3
Airy 2
R100 Fuji
A zillion lower priced models you didn't ask about ;-)
All of the above use the same microridge stylus (contrary to Dan_Ed's statement), as do all ZYX models above the entry level Bloom, which uses a less costly elliptical.
All five of the above can be ordered in either Low Output (.24mv/4 ohms) or High Output (.48mv/8 ohms). There's no price difference. As I reported here (and tipped off Arthur Salvatore after I saw his unenthusiastic writeup of the HO UNIverse), the LO models substantially outperform their HO brethren. The superiority of the LO is so great that, on my advice, Mehran does not even stock HO UNIverse or Atmos (not sure about the others). Footnote: ZYX uses a non-standard test record that produces cartridge output specs much lower than what other cartridge brands would report. To get a comparative spec or for phono gain calculaton purposes, you have to multiply a ZYX output spec by 1.42, so .24mv becomes .34mv and .48mv becomes .68.
All five of the above can be ordered with gold (G), silver (S) or copper (X) coils. There's no price difference. Mehran stocks the copper and some silver, gold is special order. For all models, copper is fastest, least bloated, most natural, most revealing. Silver is slower, somewhat smoothed, a bit Koetsu-ish. Gold is slowest, quite smoothed, quite Koetsu-ish.
All five of the above can be ordered with no extra weight (cartridge weighs ~5 oz.), silver weight (SB, cartridge weighs ~9 oz.) or gold weight (GB, cartridge weighs, um, MORE than 9 oz.!). The SB costs extra, the GB costs even more. Mehran stocks the SB, GB and weight-less are both special order. Which is best depends on the tonearm. For a ZYX, the ideal setup is tonearm eff. mass + weight of cartridge + extra weight (if any) = 22-25 grams. A popular and very successful combo is TriPlanar + ZYX with SB, which works out to 11 + 9 = 20g. A bit light in theory but excellent in practice.
BTW, Oscilloscopium's theory that a ZYX likes a lighter arm because it's light itself is incorrect. Not correct in theory and not the best combo in practice. An unweighted (5g) ZYX will perform best on an arm with an eff. mass of 18-20g or so, which is nobody's idea of light.
For sonic comparisons of Airy 2, Airy 3, Atmos and UNIverse, read the reviews beneath my signature.
Doug
P.S. For interpretations of Redtop and his comments, see Dan_Ed!