Akiva or Titan

R f sayles, I'm not the financial guy, but I'm pretty sure that Lyra does offer discounted upgrade pricing (IOW, trade in value on an existing Lyra credited towards a more expensive Lyra purchase). We don't offer trade-ins on other brands, because with very few exceptions, they are neither useful nor interesting for us (the local distributor may have different trade-in programs, so you'd need to check to be sure).

The Titan i should easily be as quiet as the Akiva, but as you said, differences in turntables, tonearms and phono stages could conceal the differences.

Also cartridge loading depends on the impedance of the cartridge and the frequency range of the electrical resonances that the loading addresses, and also on the phono stage and its IMD behaviour (because said electrical resonances may lie totally in the ultrasonic range, particular in the case of low-impedance cartridges).

regards, jonathan carr

I have a dear pal,who owns the Titan-I.He is a fanatical collector of classical/jazz "classic" vinyl,and is extremely demanding.The Titan is a fabulous,no FABULOUS product!!I have heard it on many occassions,and he has a wonderful,full range set-up.The dynamics of this design leave nothing to be desired.
Of course there are loads of other great designs,but Lyra has given my friend two free NEW cartridges,as he had two problems(he screwed up,not the cartridge).This is a classy(and financially well off,apparently)company to deal with. Best of luck.

I stand corrected. Sorry for the misinformation all. My intention was certainly not to discredit Lyra as I find their scan-tech manufactured cartridges and also the ones provided for Linn to be outstanding in the market place of many great cartridges. I had one friend that got the run around and was told that Lyra would give him nothing on trade and that is my only experience. In retrospect, that may well have been a dealer problem. Happy Listening!

Dear Kinsekd: The Akiva and Titan are very good cartridges but for the price difference and because your Linn analog rig I take the Akiva one.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Thanks to all who responded for the good information.

I do have the Ref phono set to the high gain setting.

I have considered using a step up transformer, but I am concerned about introducing distortion.

I checked with my dealer. The trade in for an Arkiv B to an Akiva is $950. Placed the order this afternoon. Can't wait to get it in.

Thanks again.