Some help please with Cartridge choices

@yoyoyaya Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll put it in my TT wish list.

OP said

"I prefer a musical and less analytical sound, more rounded than sharp edges. The Hana is in the budget and available."

I heard my friend Rick’s wood bodied Benz Micro Ruby Wood SL here in my system, new Line Contact tip in OEM Boron Rod. I think OP would like it a lot, I certainly do. I need more time to compare it, describe it, but it was instantly ’involving’, a definite keeper. I don’t think it needs ’break-in’, Vintage suspension, may need a few hours to loosen up, I’ll get back to it in a few days.

Today, Audio Show, I briefly heard a Lyra Atlas, it’s quite something, not for me, but immediately you are aware ’everything is there’, not analytical, not bright, not warm, perhaps measurably quite accurate, but it somehow was not as involving as others I or my friends own.

btw, Vinyl sounded better than streaming everywhere my friend and I went.

This CD Receiver one speaker maker used sounded surprisingly good

https://www.musicdirect.com/disc-player/technics-sa-c600-network-cd-receiver-factory-second/?sku=RF_ATECHSAC600S&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=18152791641&gbraid=0AAAAAD8z8foP09HHShUZhz2IhzsHIhFKw&gclid=CjwKCAjwjffHBhBuEiwAKMb8pJjbu5AGtCc9X7-AK2942EZB2ZOXC_mrv0BcIfWuhZBUH5fFks23MhoCXpgQAvD_BwE

One more to throw in the mix might be the Fuuga.  Have heard it at several shows over the last couple years on a number of different, but very nice sounding systems.

Fair enough on the Lyra.  The most memorable demo I heard of one of their Atlas cartridges was about a decade ago now on an SME table and arm, ARC phono pre, D’Agastino separates driving Wilson Alexandria speakers. The system was set up by a Wilson rep and Dan D’Agostino, and Micheal Fremer was choosing the content.  Not a warmish system, but hello(!), it had the dynamics and presence of live performance. 

One of the cuts Fremer played was from a just released very high quality pressing of one of the Fleetwood Mac studio albums from the Buckingham-Nicks era, and that system captured how I remembered hearing it in concert, and I was again surprised at how hard that band could rock live. I shared that observation with Fremer after the demo and he said with a slight twinkle “1977, you can remember any of that, really?” And then he cracked up.  But I digress.

kn

I woke up thinking about the Lyra Atlas cartridge.

I only listened to two tracks, of interesting but totally unfamiliar music, so it is quite possible it was the content, not the cartridge that I found uninvolving.

Had I been paying more attention, I bet there was some familiar content I could have put on.

As I said, I knew instantly that it was a cut above, asked what it was, they told me it was Lyra Atlas, then I put my brain into listen to the cartridge mode.

I said feeble memory, I can remember the position of the TT against the window wall, and the location of the stacks of LPs on the left side in the room, but I don’t recall what room, what TT, who was playing it. Sorry, I should have realized at the time how rare a chance it was.

I hadn’t been to a show in a Long time. I was anticipating a crowded, hot, mess, crowded rooms and hallways like the old days.