Vinyl Asylum: REVIEW: Lyra Olympos Phono Cartridge by Stitch

Model:	Olympos
Category:	Phono Cartridge
Suggested Retail Price:	$ 11000
Description:	MC Cartridge
Manufacturer URL:	Lyra
Model Picture:	View

Review by Stitch on March 25, 2010 at 11:18:47
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for the Olympos

Normally I know what I want. This one I didn't want at all. Background was, I had the chance to listen to it twice, in very expensive Owner's Systems and it didn't move me at all. My thinking was, ey, thank you, that saved some money. I closed that chapter.
Last year I got a visit from another Audiophile (sic!) and he asked me"I have one for you, you want it?" My answer came in 1/2 second "No"
He asked me why and I told him my eperiences and he argues I should try it, my System is from the Tonality very different to the usual....and 2 days later we made the installation.

I will never forget my reaction when it touched the first groove, I really thought "This can't be..."

It was indeed VERY different to my former "listening experience"

It has the ability to convey a sense of human touch and force in recorded music, and is exceeded by nothing in its utterly convincing feel of musical flow and naturalness. Not only string tone and texture, but subtleties of bowing technique were communicated uniquely well by this colorful yet uncolored cartridge.

The Olympos is rich, beautiful, and extraordinarily delicate-sounding on all music, with superior detail and transient response.
It is capable of painting a breathtaking soundstage. Image focus was precise, but even more thrilling was its ability to properly portray the ebb and flow of image outlines.

It stunned me with its ability to deliver realistic dynamic contrasts at both the micro and macro levels. Orchestral climaxes pushed me back in my seat, yet didn’t become hard or glassy. Plucked guitar strings startled with their speed and clarity, yet never sounded forced or etched.

Bass extension, control, and definition were startlingly good. The sense of texture and timbre is highly tactile.
Subtle string textures, reeds, and female voices were positively thrilling, and the size and weight of the entire picture -- especially stage depth extending well behind and in front of the speakers -- was particularly impressive.

Add that to snap-you-back-in-your-seat dynamics and authoritative decay, and the Olympos became one of a - half :-) - handful of the finest phono cartridges I've ever heard.

It felt like a high-powered microscope, able to dig deeper into the foundation of the music than its competition. And it's all about detail and tonal color. Emotions are in encoded into the music signal by means of low-level volume/microdynamic (tremolo), pitch (vibrato) modulations and their associated time cues.

Some cartridges appear to smear out the music's time base, dulling the leading edge. Not so with the Olympos, speed of attack was very much in evidence.
Its tonally neutral yet richly textured sound that does nothing but serve the music.

Attack and decay are not showy but are present, and the timbre, the identifying marks of this voice you know well, are obvious, but not highlighted. The voice is what it is. The listening via Olympos is sort of like a new pair of glasses: You can see further and discern detail without having to try—everything is more there than it used to be. And as with a new pair of glasses, anything else seems distorting.

The Olympos real strength is the reproduction of tonal colors, very difficult for a lot of High End Systems to do. Most can play loud, but showing the tiny differences in volume, tonal color and soundstaging is a bit special. When the System can‘t show that, lots of the unique character of the Olympos is lost. Sad, but that‘s the way it is.
Some in audio often do comparisons with cars, Ferrari and so on. Let me say, of course it is nice to have a Ferrari, but when you can drive it properly, you have much more fun. But owning one is ok also :-)

Compared with:

Fidelity Research FR-7fz
Koetsu Rosewood Sign. Platinum
Lyra Helikon / Skala / Titan i
Takeda Miyabi
Transfiguration Temper
Zyx 4D / UNIverse

One of the real great carts.

Info from Manufacturer

The cantilever, coils, and diamond were all either developed especially for the Olympos or adopted from the later LYRA cartridge developments. As with the Titan design, the boron cantilever was diamond coated, and the main structure machined from a sold block of titanium. However, neither of these parts could be lifted directly from the Titan, so a new design had to be developed for the Olympos. The Olympos is the only current LYRA cartridge that retains a traditional single magnet with fore and aft polepiece structure. The original run of 10 Olympos cartridges sold out on introduction in 2002. We subsequently discovered that it would be possible to produce more Olympos cartridges if an original Parnassus cartridge is used as a “donor”. From the donor we recycle only the platinum-iron magnets and 5N iron polepieces. To date approximately 60 Olympos cartridges have been produced. As each Olympos is a one-off bespoke model, custom versions including Olympos SL (lower output) and Olympos Mono have also been produced. However, an Olympos cannot simply be ordered up from your LYRA retailer; LYRA can only make an Olympos when a donor Parnassus cartridge is provided.

OLYMPOS Specifications

Frequency range: 10 Hz - 50 kHz
Cantilever system: Diamond coated boron rod cantilever, and natural diamond, Ogura-manufactured, LYRA original line-contact stylus (3 x 70 micrometers profile).
Channel separation: 35 dB or better at 1kHz
Internal impedance: 5.5 ohms
Output voltage: 0.3 mV (5.0cm/sec., zero to peak, 45 degrees)
Cartridge weight (without stylus cover): 13.5 g
Compliance: Approx. 12 x 10-6 cm/dyne at 100Hz
Distance from centerline through mounting holes to stylus tip: 9.5 mm
Recommended tracking force: 1.6 - 1.75 g
Recommended impedance: 100 ohms to 47 kohms

Product Weakness:	Price
Product Strengths:	See review

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Lamm ML2.1
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Lamm L2R
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Basis Debut vac.
Speakers: Reference 3A
Cables/Interconnects: Audioquest Sky
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Decca SXL / RCA Living Stereo
Room Comments/Treatments: Done
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 Year
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	Lamm ML2.1
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Lamm L2R
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Basis Debut vac.
Speakers:	Reference 3A
Cables/Interconnects:	Audioquest Sky
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Decca SXL / RCA Living Stereo
Room Comments/Treatments:	Done
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1 Year
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner