The New Angle on LP Reproduction, Level 2:Introducing the Lyra Kleos MC Phono Cartridge
Although many MC cartridges have good performance, their sound is held back by how they are designed. The problem is, the signal coils should have the same angle as the magnetic circuit during playback, but MC cartridges are typically designed so that the opposite happens – applying normal tracking force pushes the coils out of alignment. This impairs coil sensitivity and linearity, and reduces sound quality. Lyra’s ”New Angle” technology solves this fundamental problem by compensating for how the signal coils are affected by vertical tracking forces, and optimally aligning the coils when it matters most – during playback. Introduced on our entry-level Delos, the New Angle technology enables the Delos to perform well above its pricepoint. But being audiophiles, we wanted to achieve the next higher level – which is the new Kleos. Building on New Angle technology, the Kleos innovates with a stronger chassis machined from aircraft-grade alloys, narrowed mounting area to improve energy transfer, and pre-stressed construction combining multiple materials with non-parallel surfaces to inhibit internal body resonances. The fully hand-made Kleos also has a Lyra-designed line contact stylus and platinum-plated output pins, achieving an exceptionally quiet noise-floor with superior immediacy, resolution and tracking, wide dynamic range and explosive transients, plus a warmer and natural tonal balance. The Kleos is a high-value cartridge that surpasses the sound quality of substantially more expensive cartridges.
Let the Lyra Kleos show you how good a New Angle on LP reproduction – Level 2 – can sound.
The Kleos is the lowest cost Lyra cartridge to feature the full fledged Ogura manufactured boron cantilever and coil system with Lyra original line-contact (3 x 70μm) stylus. This is similar to what is employed on even the most expensive Lyra models.
Nevertheless, the most important element of the new Kleos is it’s sound. We firmly believe that the Kleos is capable of extracting more information from the vinyl grooves than it’s predecessors, and that the reproduction of music is both more dynamic, more detailed, and more natural than the models preceding it. We also are of the opinion that the Kleos will set a new standard for sonic performance at it’s price point.
Today there are only a small handful of master cartridge builders in the world, and Lyra’s Yoshinori Mishima belongs to this elite group of individuals that are capable of crafting the highest level MC transducers on the planet. His assistant Akiko Ishiyama, who has undergone several years of apprenticeship, is also involved in the building process leading to each Kleos. The Kleos is not only hand made, but each cartridge is listened to extensively and ”voiced” by the master cartridge builder, like the finest musical instruments.
Lyra offers a unique combination of capable, advanced cartridge design by Jonathan Carr and complete handmade execution by the above mentioned individuals. Investing in a Lyra Kleos through an authorized retailer will offer you an unparallelled analog experience from your stereo microgroove vinyl records.
- Designer : Jonathan Carr
- Builder : Yoshinori Mishima (final build, testing), Akiko Ishiyama (preliminary build)
- Type : Medium weight, medium compliance, low-impedance moving coil cartridge
- Frequency range : 10Hz ~ 50kHz
- Channel separation : 35dB or better at 1kHz
- Cantilever system : Solid boron rod with Lyra-designed long footprint line-contact stylus (3um x 75um) and one-point suspension, directly mounted to cartridge body
- Coil : 6-N high-purity copper, 5.4ohms internal impedance, 9.0uH inductance Output voltage: 0.5mV@5cm/sec. (CBS test record, other test records may alter results)
- Compliance : Approx. 12×10 cm/dyne at 100Hz
- Vertical tracking angle : 20 degrees
- Cartridge body : One-piece machining from solid 7075 alloy billet, with reduced-surface higher-pressure headshell contact area, and resonance-controlling mechanism
- Cartridge weight (without stylus cover) : 8.8g
- Recommended tracking force : 1.6 ~ 1.75g
- Recommended load directly into MC phono input : 91ohms ~ 47kohm (determine by listening, or follow detailed guidelines included in user manual)
- Recommended load via step-up transformer : 5 ~ 15ohm (step-up transformer’s output must be connected to 47kohm MM-level RIAA input)
- Recommended tonearm : High-quality pivoted or linear tangential) tone arm with rigid bearing(s), adjustable anti-skating force, preferably VTA