SUT decision: Ortofon Verto vs Ortofon STA6600L

Hi Raul,
Lyra will recommend their own SUT which is the Erodion. This is out of my budget.

Raul wrote:
I can't know what you are listening in your system but ZYX " signature " is different from Lyra.

Now, there could be some reasons your Lyra performs in that way: not a very good match with the tonearm is mounted, needs a different load impedance value ( you have to check with different values. ), colored IC phono cable, some set up parameters as VTA/SRA/AZ/VTF where the cartridge is not " confortable ", SUT own distortions or is the way the Skala sounds.

Raul, I have been using this phonostage for the last 2 years or so and I have been very happy with it. I have tried many different cartridges, many interconnects, different tonearms and different settings all throughout my analogue rig. It has been a common observation that my phonostage sounds absolutely glorious with ZYX cartridge but not as good with Lyra. I dont know why. I have three Lyras till now and 3 ZYX. The result is consistent. With a SUT, things are different, the Lyra sings. Which tells me that the issue is mostly about loading. I could not get that same flow at any of the load settings on the phonostage. There must be something more to it but I am not a techie to be able to open the phonostage and check inside or modify. BTW, the Lyra sings really well with the 47 Labs phonocube and even Lehmann Audio Black Cube. So it likes direct input inside the phonostage, that is clear. Cannot blame any one component here.

10-18-13: Pani
Hi Raul,
Lyra will recommend their own SUT which is the Erodion.

Pani - clearly you did not read my post above. JCarr does not recommend the Erodion for phono stages that have a gain of 50dB plus.

06-18-10: Jcarr
FWIW, we also make the Erodion (www.lyraconnoisseur), which is a stepup device, but this has a 1:20 ratio, so I wouldn't recommend it for the Delos unless your phono stage gain is in the low 40-some dB range.

I suggest you go back and read my post. There is some useful information there.

I have written a short article on impedance loading that may help explain the differences.
http://www.bobsdevices.com/What-about-Impedance.html

I have to revisit this thread, especially after suggesting Lundahls earlier. Since then I bought one of Bob's Devices SKY 30 SUTs for use with my Miyajima Kansui. I'm shocked at how good it is, even before full break in. Huge, deep soundstage; rich yet accurate tonality; outstanding focus and detail; very open and dynamic. I'd never been completely happy with the Kansui before, and I've used it through a Steelhead RC, my VAC Phi Beta pre-amp's internal MC (with unlimited loading options), and the MC input on my current Allnic H3000, which employs its own multi-tap SUTs. The Kansui always seemed closed in no matter how I played with gain and loading. Through this Bob's SUT, on high gain (30x) into the H3000's MM input at 47K, I finally get what makes this cartridge special. Perhaps 30x is just the perfect gain for it and that's what I'm hearing, I'm not sure. But I have a feeling the difference is these blue CineMag transformers and the way Bob utilizes them. (I have no affiliation beyond being a pleased new customer.)

Thanks Wrm57, thats an interesting observation. This goes to show more very important thing, with most phonostages a good SUT into the MM input sounds better than going direct into the MC input. There would be exceptions I agree, but most as I said could be behaving this way. So, I guess it would be interesting to look for a very good MM phonostage and look for a matching SUT for the cartridge.