Titan, Transfiguration Orpheus or Air Tight PC1??


There is no way I will get to demo all or any of these carts. My choices are limited to these carts as I can get a decent trade in for my Lyra Skala. The cart will be mounted on a Triplanar, the TT is a Michell Orbe and phono stage is a Nagra VPS. There is no earthly reason to contemplate an upgrade except.....??
Am extremely happy with the Lyra Skala. Listen to all musical genres from rock, blues, classical,jazz and Indian though the latter is not critical for the choice of cart given IMHO the somewhat limited dynamic range of most Indian music.
Would appreciate views/advice of A'goners who have experience of some or all of these carts.
Many thanks in advance.
128x128sunnyboy1956
Hello Sunnyboy, it is a Miyabi Standard (Metal Body, not plastic like the 47Lab version), a good match with the Triplanar, but different Sound compared to the Skala (and the other ones)
PC-1 was loaded at 500 ohms ultimately. For me the Titan I was better. Not night & day but still clearly better. I have owned both the Skala & Titan I. The description above is accurate but fails to address where the Skala's performance excels beyond the Titan I. It has excellent low resolution detail and a superior sense of space. This is at the expense of bass impact| dynamic contrast & body. Hard to pick a cartridge that does it all. That is until you try a Colibri that is optimized for your system. Yet the Titan I is preferred from time to time. It is more forgiving on many recordings & conveys a nice alternative balance of body & detail. Still for me a Colibri is an 80% of the time cartridge.
Jfrech

There were only the two Spiral Groove decks in that room in 2008. I could only say a word about the whole setup, which I found very detailed and dynamic.
I could detect the sonic signature of Triplanar in the sound, and also the Skala's sonic signature in this high-resolution setup. I also had the Skala in my system at home for some time, but despite its high resolution I dislike it for its sound.
Look here: http://www.tnt-audio.com/shows/munich08b_e.html

But in 2007, I could listen to an early prototype of the Spiral Groove in the same room, where a Raven One was playing the day before, using same Schroeder tonearm and Lyra cartridge. It was with big Magnepan speakers and Rowland amps. I found this early model a bit on the detailed, analytical side compared to the more integrated presentation of the Raven One. Coming to personal preference, I liked the Raven more. I discussed this with others at the show, and some disagreed.
Look here: http://www.tnt-audio.com/shows/munich07a_e.html

Sorry that I cannot really answer your question. You have to go out and listen for yourself. At this gear level all the analogue setup qualities are quite hit-or-miss the synergy and perceptions are very subjective. Then, judging the sound quality of gear at a show is difficult and dangerous, both.

best regards, Hartmut
The Lyra Erodian that raises the gain by 26dB got a great review in Hifi+ together with the Skala and Titan I and a tube phono stage, maybe this can help with the Nagra in tube mode.
Hartmut, thanks for the post above, and maybe I am getting a little to far off topic from sunnyboy's (sorry) original post.

One more question, did you get to compare the 2 Spiral Groove tables? From your pics, looks like they were side by side, curious if you can comment on the sound difference re: the SG 1 and SG 2 tables?

Thanks