Anyone using a Lyra Delos yet?

11-30-10: Moonglum

11-29-10: Paperw8
"from where you are getting your data on input capacitance? my whest manual provides no information on input capacitance. an input capacitance of 220pf sounds a bit high even for a moving magnet section."

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James Henriot.

i checked this out and got the sense that mr. henriot did not measure the capacitance across the +/- leads at the input rca connectors.

but in any event, whatever capacitance value(s) you choose to use, the instructions that come with the lyra delos provide guidelines for how to set the input impedance at the phono stage. for what it's worth, if you tell the people at whest that you are using a lyra delos cartridge, they will typically configure the ps.30 for a load impedance value of 470 ohms.

Thanks for that Paperw8.....I'm currently using a load of 220 with the PS0.3r and it sounds pretty good even though I'm still running in the cart, but you've intrigued me so I will try something approaching the 470 setting.
Best................M.

12-03-10: Moonglum
Thanks for that Paperw8.....I'm currently using a load of 220 with the PS0.3r and it sounds pretty good even though I'm still running in the cart, but you've intrigued me so I will try something approaching the 470 setting.

you'll get better dynamics but i think that 470 ohms is a bit bright. i had previously been using an effective load impedance of about 363 ohms. i am currently using an effective load impedance of 455 about ohms but may go back to 363 ohms after a while.

Paperw8

The input capacitance MUST be 220pf because I used to use an MM cartridge on my PS.30R. MM cartridges require capacitance as you know, that's why they are there. dropping the 220pf and you'll have a really crappy sound on MM. I know because I took out my 220pf from my older PS.20 loading plugs and the sound was like a cheap 1920's gramophone.

MC cartridges don't really need capacitance but resistor loading. There is a big debate out there about required capacitance for MC. I have a friend who is an avid DIYer and he increased the input capacitance of his homebrew stage from 200pf to 1nf in 5 steps while using an old Linn Troika. Nothing really happened. But changing the load from 100ohms to 1k ohms in 5 steps made a massive difference at every step.

Also if you check inside the Whest 30R you will see 2 polypropylene 220pf capacitors at the RCA connectors. I think you may be doing the wrong thing or just totally forgotten 4th grade science.

I sort of remember in school physics that measuring resistance in parallel with capacitance will give you the reactance or a reactance measurement but trying to measure correct capacitance with a resistor across it is pretty hard if not impossible.

How do you measure the capacitance of your tonearm cable??? You must have to load it with a fixed resistor, measure the reactance and do the math to get the capacitance value.

I have found that loading does affect dynamics and presentation but needs to be set for the system and room. There are no hard fast rules with loading as moving the whole system to another room may need a different lading system because of the room.

just got an answer from James at whest regarding the capacitance value question and more. It seems that he has had quite a few emails regarding this subject.

I was right in thinking that without the 220pf the MM would sound wrong. As I thought, it's known anyway that the capacitance loading is to do with MM and not so important with MC. Varying capacitance on MM makes a very big difference in sound but not so with MC.

James says the most important aspect of design is 'information retrieval' and the only way around that is knowing what is 'coming in'.

I do get his reasoning and him likening basic knowledge of electronics to the basic knowledge of engine design. Many can understand getting 100hp from an engine but it takes a real understanding of all the component parts to get 500hp from the same block.

What I did not know was the input stage design of all the Whest phonostages except the small whestTWO are all designed for MC use. Meaning the impedances are geared towards low loading values - giving their lowest noise levels with low loads. The majority of phonostages out there are MM style with input - high resistance values/ impedances which is why many are noisier or sound poorer with MC loads. The fact that the Whest phonostages play MM is an aside as James says 'at this level people should be using MC'.