Lyra again turns the analog world on its ear with the introduction of the Etna λ Lambda SL phono cartridge. Sharing its name with Sicily’s majestic Mount Etna, Etna λ Lambda SL the cartridge is an impressive monument in its own right, one that melds tried and true Lyra design tenets with designer Jonathan Carr’s very latest thinking on phono cartridges.
Etna λ Lambda SL was designed with a strong emphasis on engineering efficiency, so that its performance would be as far beyond the sum of its parts as possible. For this reason, although it shares some of its design philosophy with Atlas λ Lambda SL, the concepts are executed rather differently.
Etna λ Lambda SL employs a solid titanium core structure machined with non-parallel surfaces to inhibit internal reflections whenever possible, but unlike Atlas (and Titan i before it), this is mated to a slightly undersized, asymmetric, mirror-black anodized duralumin outer body that locks over the core like a very tightly-fitting jigsaw puzzle. The core and body are augmented with bronze and stainless-steel resonance control rods, then pressure-fit together into a pre-stressed, solid, void-free structure which is comprised of multiple materials and complex internal shapes. The constrained-layer nature of this construction dramatically reduces the resonant signature of each material and creates a far more neutral-sounding body structure than otherwise possible, while the high body stiffness benefits transients, dynamics and resolution.
Specifications for Lyra Etna λ Lambda SL
- Designer: Jonathan Carr
- Builder: Yoshinori Mishima
- Type: Medium weight, medium compliance, low-impedance moving coil cartridge
- Stylus: Lyra-designed long-footprint variable-radius line-contact nude diamond (3μm× 70μm), slot-mounted
- Cantilever system: Diamond-coated solid boron rod with short one-point wire suspension, directly mounted into cartridge body via high-pressure knife-edge system
- Body: Machined titanium central core, anodized aluminum
- Coils: Single layer, 6 N high-purity copper, chemically-purified high purity iron cross-shaped former, 1.52 ohm self impedance, 1.9μH inductance
- Output voltage: 0.25mV@5 cm/sec., zero to peak, 45 degrees (CBS test record, other test records may alter results)
- Frequency range: 10 Hz〜50 kHz
- Channel separation: Greater than 30dB at 1kHz
- Compliance: Approx. 12× 10 cm/dyne at 100 Hz
- Cartridge body: Multi-material (titanium, duralumin, bronze, stainless steel) self-clamping construction with reduced-surface higher-pressure headshell contact area, predominately non-parallel shaping, phase-interference resonance-controlling mechanisms, and body threaded directly for mounting screws
- Cartridge mounting screws: 2.6 mm 0.45 pitch JIS standard
- Cartridge weight (without stylus cover): 9.2g
- Distance from mounting holes to stylus tip: 9.52mm
- Recommended tracking force: 1.62 – 1.72g
- Recommended load directly into MC phono input: Detailed guidelines in instruction manual, finalize by listening.
- Recommended load via step-up transformer: Use a step-up transformer designed for 1 – 3 ohms cartridge impedance (step-up transformer’s output must be connected to 10kohm ~ 47kohm MM-level RIAA input, preferably via short, low-capacitance cable)
- Recommended tonearm: Medium to Medium-High mass arms recommended, which is bulk of tonearm market
