purchase dilemma , kleos or skala

Rodders · Nov 2, 2013

I am looking to replace my helikon and in my budget I can go with either the skala or the kleos.
In the UK the skala is the more expensive (by £500), but the kleos is a newer design.
The t/t is an SME 20/2 with V arm into nagra plp.
I would be interested to hear peoples experiences / thoughts on my options.

jazdoc · Nov 2, 2013

You may want to ping Andre Jennings who has vast experience and knowledge of the Lyra line...

Rodders · Nov 2, 2013

jazdoc said:
You may want to ping Andre Jennings who has vast experience and knowledge of the Lyra line...

Jazdoc , do you know his user name, searched his real name and got no result.
thanks.

jazdoc · Nov 2, 2013

Dre_J

jfrech · Nov 3, 2013

Rodders said:
I am looking to replace my helikon and in my budget I can go with either the skala or the kleos.
In the UK the skala is the more expensive (by £500), but the kleos is a newer design.
The t/t is an SME 20/2 with V arm into nagra plp.
I would be interested to hear peoples experiences / thoughts on my options.

A few years ago I had a SME 20/2, SME IV.Vi arm and a Nagra VPS/PLL. I went from a Helicon to a Skala. And oh my was that a nice step up. Much much much better weight on the notes...some better resolution...added a degree of fun that the Helicon just didn't have. Lyra's and your SME arm mate well..ditto to your Nagra PLP. What arm cable are you using off your SME? This is a major place to improve unless you already have a great cable...

Rodders · Nov 3, 2013

jfrech said:
A few years ago I had a SME 20/2, SME IV.Vi arm and a Nagra VPS/PLL. I went from a Helicon to a Skala. And oh my was that a nice step up. Much much much better weight on the notes...some better resolution...added a degree of fun that the Helicon just didn't have. Lyra's and your SME arm mate well..ditto to your Nagra PLP. What arm cable are you using off your SME? This is a major place to improve unless you already have a great cable...

standard arm cable, what cable have you tried?

jfrech · Nov 3, 2013

Rodders said:
standard arm cable, what cable have you tried?

I've tried 5. In this order of preference (and price). Graham IC 50, Hovland Music Groove, Purist Venastas, Purist Proteus Provectus Praesto, Transparent Audio Ref XL MM2. If you get a cable in the middle...something like the Purist Audio Venastas...you'd be amazed. This cable alone will seem like a cartridge upgrade. So i'd recommend the Kleos and save a little for a better arm cable...

Dre_J · Nov 3, 2013

Rodders said:
Jazdoc , do you know his user name, searched his real name and got no result.
thanks.

Hi Rod,

IMO, The Kleos is an improvement over the Helicon in every aspect. This is especially true in it's ability to keep it's composure more often.

The Skala is , to me, the Lyra with the fullest low octave sound and has the biggest dynamic swing in the bass region. It tilts towards low frequency to midrange fullness than any of the other Lyras when properly setup. It's all in a good way though.

Depending on your listening preferences, choose the one that you think will give you more of what you want out of your system. The Kleos is a safe choice since it is unmistakably better than Helicon. Skala is special in Lyra's lineup for it's warmth and generous low octave dynamic output and does not convey that super low level detail like some of the others up the line.

Dre

Rodders · Nov 4, 2013

Dre_J said:
Hi Rod,

Skala is special in Lyra's lineup for it's warmth and generous low octave dynamic output and does not convey that super low level detail like some of the others up the line.Dre

Hi Dre

Thanks for your reply ,I 'm not quite following the highlighted part,,,
a)do you mean that the bass is stronger but you cannot follow the bass line as well or
b) low level detail generally is not pushed to the front as much as the others....
c) something else altogether..

Rod

Rodders · Nov 4, 2013

I had a listen to the dynavector Te Kaitora Rua before coming back to Lyra and this was tilted to the bass range compared to the helikon, which in my room was a bit too much.
From what people are saying about the Skala the Kleos might be more suitable for my room.

Dre_J · Nov 4, 2013

Rodders said:
Hi Dre

Thanks for your reply ,I 'm not quite following the highlighted part,,,
a)do you mean that the bass is stronger but you cannot follow the bass line as well or
b) low level detail generally is not pushed to the front as much as the others....
c) something else altogether..

Rod

Something else altogether. No Lyra cartridge that I've listened to has been unable to follow a bass line. They all (the entire Lyra line) do bass lines quite well. The Skala is a very low mechanically-induced-distortion cartridge that has what I would call more low octave energy than Helicon but certainly not the type of bass that hangs around longer than it's supposed to. What I was referring to was that the Skala is not the equal of Titan-i or Atlas in that department.

I think either one (Kleos or Skala) will be an improvement over Helicon. You can get all kinds of comments from every angle (including mine) but what's most important is how you respond to the new addition. You just have to figure out which one you want.

Dre

mbovaird · Nov 4, 2013

Kleos is outstanding. I just moved from a Dynavector to the Kleos. Major improvement.

Rodders · Nov 4, 2013

Dre
Thanks for clarifying.

Mbovaird
What t/t and arm are you using?

I have just ordered the kleos, there is about a six week wait before I get it, don't know if you get that sort of delay over there in the USA.
thanks to everyone who replied both in this thread and by pm.

mbovaird · Nov 4, 2013

Rodders said:
Dre
Thanks for clarifying.

Mbovaird
What t/t and arm are you using?

I have just ordered the kleos, there is about a six week wait before I get it, don't know if you get that sort of delay over there in the USA.
thanks to everyone who replied both in this thread and by pm.

I'm using a VPI Classic 3 and JMW-Classic 3 Tonearm.

Rodders · Dec 18, 2013

Well, I got my Kleos yesterday .
Imaging is much better than the Helikon it replaced.
I know it is a cliché but I have heard things that were missing in action before, and what was there just sounds more natural.
The surface noise is also a lot quieter.
Worth every penny.

jfrech · Dec 18, 2013

Rodders said:
Well, I got my Kleos yesterday .
Imaging is much better than the Helikon it replaced.
I know it is a cliché but I have heard things that were missing in action before, and what was there just sounds more natural.
The surface noise is also a lot quieter.
Worth every penny.

Congratulations !!!!

Rodders · Dec 18, 2013

Thanks. Listening to the new issue lp of massive attack mezzanine at the moment.
Next purchase will be an oppo ,after which I will try out tone arm cables .

kleinbje · Dec 18, 2013

Nice Purchase! I have a kleos sl on my Classic 3. I absolutely love it. Works well with everything from Sabbath to Satch plays King Oliver. I plan on keeping it for a while. Highly second the recommendation for a new tonearm cable. I switched from a kimber hero to a Nordost Tyr because I needed a well shielded cable with the SL. The difference was quite dramatic. If your ok with it, look used, I got mine new for over 50% off when tyr 2 came out. Is anybody using damping oil in the tonearm with their Kleos? I am using a Manley Chinook and load my Kleos SL at 160ohms, I found it very sensitive to loading options, so experiment.

puroagave · Dec 18, 2013

Rodders said:
Thanks. Listening to the new issue lp of massive attack mezzanine at the moment.
Next purchase will be an oppo ,after which I will try out tone arm cables .

congrats and mezzanine has some awesome low bass tracks, great for testing the tracking ability of your set-up. I have a kleos and like it well enough, I'm interested in hearing the skala based on Dre's post.

Rodders · Dec 19, 2013

kleinbje said:
Nice Purchase! I have a kleos sl on my Classic 3. I absolutely love it. Works well with everything from Sabbath to Satch plays King Oliver. I plan on keeping it for a while. Highly second the recommendation for a new tonearm cable. I switched from a kimber hero to a Nordost Tyr because I needed a well shielded cable with the SL. The difference was quite dramatic. If your ok with it, look used, I got mine new for over 50% off when tyr 2 came out. Is anybody using damping oil in the tonearm with their Kleos? I am using a Manley Chinook and load my Kleos SL at 160ohms, I found it very sensitive to loading options, so experiment.

Thanks . I've got mine at 200 Ohms, which is where it was with the helikon, just enjoying it at the moment but will have a bit of an experiment next week (during the x-mas hols ) at dropping the load, it is easy enough to do with the nagra.
will try cables when finances allow..

purchase dilemma , kleos or skala

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