Lyra Kleos vs Koetsu Urushi

Dear @daveyf : """  I need at least 0.3mv of output for my phono stage."""

at least?. I think your CAT has enough gain for the 0.2 mv KRSP and will handle easily.

Now, The KRSP is better " refinned " Koetsu design than the Urushi. In the other hand the Urushi good as it's is not in he same league than the My Sonic Labs or even the Kleos or AT that you name it.

The KRSP is an excelent performer and has higher price than the Kleos.  I think you can't go wrong with either of these cartridges.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Raul, the CAT phono stage gets very noisy as the cartridge output dips below 0.3mv in my system. Please note that I do not have very efficient speakers, so the amp has to work a lot harder to drive the speakers..and therefore the preamp has to do the same with the amp. I used to own a Benz cartridge that put out 0.2mv....the phono stage was way too noisy!
Are you saying that you think the Kleos is a superior cartridge to the Urushi? But not to the KRSP? The Kleos is a lot less expensive than the KRSP..at least in the US. 

Dear @daveyf : Then the KRSP is not for your system.

Regarding the Kleos/Urushi I prefer the Kleos that shares the Atlas cartridge technology. I heard the Urushi in my system but never vs the Kleos at the same time.
We have to listen in each one system the Kleos to understand its very high quality performance and IMHO if some one thinks diferent I can say that it’s not the Kleos but the mated audio system.

Now, I can't know how the Kleos or any other cartridge could performs in your " weird/strange " TT/tonearm combination. 

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

I have owned the Kleos and used w/ the CAT Renaissance Pre......
mostly w/ a VPI Classic 3 TT.  I like many other VPI owners
did not find the Kleos to be a good match and I think in my case,
the CAT didn't like it either.......

I have no experience w/ the Koetsu, but currently am running a Transfiguration Proteus on a VPI HRX and it is everything the Kleos
was not, and I've also heard the similarly priced Axia from Transfig
and it also is a great match........but with both, I would use a
great SUT with the CAT, which will also quiet it down......I use a Hashmito HM7 based transformer from Traditions Audio, which is around 12-1400

Thanks


Eric

Eric, what did you not like about your Kleos..? did you run it straight into the CAT or did you use the SUT? The Kleos has a lot more output than the Proteus ( BTW I think the Proteus is a GREAT cartridge!) so, if you were using the SUT with the Kleos, that might well account for the differences. Have you tried running the Proteus into the CAT without the SUT? Also, doesn't the CAT Renaissance have a built in SUT now, as well as the all tube phono stage?