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Is a Lyra Kleos good with a current-mode phono preamp?

Does anyone know whether the Kleos, or Lyra's in general, work well with current-mode phono preamps?  

MF "highly recommends the $2500 Channel D Lino C2.0 phono preamplifier", but only if, "your cartridge has a super-low internal impedance."     I have a Lyra Kleos, which has an "internal Impedance: 5.4 ohms." Is that in the ballpark of, "super-low internal impedance?" What is?    

I might be tempted to try one, given the glowing reviews, which you rarely see at this price point. On the other hand, I have not had good luck paying attention to MF's reviews, educational though they sometimes are. His taste and mine do not often seem to coincide, but then, I like tubes, and don't have $100K amps or turntables or $50K preamps. Never will!  
Are there less expensive cartridges with low output impedance?   The Kleos is terrific, and dealing with Lyra was a delight, but it isn't likely I'll ever be spending over $3.7K on a cartridge again.   In a review of the Little Loco by Sutherland, also touted as a great bargain (although $4K is far from trivial, to me) I recall that one of those guys was surprised that it didn't work very well with a Lyra Delos, which has an input impedance of 8.2 ohms.  Is that not considered, "low output impedance", or was something else going on?  

What is the downside (unavoidable, given the art of trade-offs, a/k/a/ engineering) of current-mode preamps, compared to "normal" voltage amp phono preamps?  

for reference, I'm currently (hah!) using an AR PH3 SE ungraded by Great Northern with teflon caps.  Hard to improve on at a reasonable cost. 
128x128lloydc

Showing 2 responses by hdm

hdm
1,055 posts
 
I've used cartridges with internal impedances ranging from 4-14 ohms with no problems with my Aqvox, and think that all worked well. 

I've also used an AT MONO3/LP with an internal impedance of 40 ohms and thought it worked reasonably well with my stage, although it was not a great match in terms of output/gain, having a bit too much output for the Aqvox to really dial it in; the review of the Loco I saw on line stated it would not work at all with that phono stage delivering only a loud hum, so there may be some other slightly odd compatibility issues with certain cartridges and the Loco because of other elements of its design. The Aqvox is fully balanced in and out so perhaps that is why I was still able to get that AT to work with it. 

The Lyras are in the middle to upper range of output (as far as low output MC's are concerned)  with .5 mV and .6 mV respectively with Kleos and Delos and the issue with the Delos may have had more to do with proper gain matching/setup than the internal impedance of the Lyra at 8.2 ohms which is still relatively low. 

Most current mode stages should perform reasonably well with cartridges with internal impedances of 1-10 ohms I would think.  
hdm
1,055 posts
 
What is the input impedance on the EMIA unit you are using Lew?
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