Lyra Olympos/Olympos SL

The Lyra Olympos/Olympos SL is, without any exaggeration, the rarest of reference cartridges. To manufacture one, Lyra need an original Lyra Parnassus from the early 1990s as a donor cartridge. Why? Because the Parnassus was designed around a platinum-iron magnet and two 5N high-purity iron pole pieces, and only ten — yes, ten! — sets of platinum-iron magnets have ever been sourced by Lyra.

The Olympos or Olympos SL incorporates this set of platinum-iron magnet and high-purity iron pole pieces in a modern Lyra design: body machined of solid titanium, with geometry featuring a stylus position in 3D space versus mounting holes and a cantilever made of diamond-coated solid boron. The stylus is a natural diamond line contact (3 x 70 micrometres). Tracking force is from 1.65 to 1.80 g.

We have one original Parnassus to send to Lyra for the manufacture of a new Olympos or Olympos SL (purchaser’s choice). The SL is a lower output version of the non-SL model. SL stands for “single layer” coil windings (the non-SL Olympos has two layers). The SL has an output of 0.2 mV and an internal impedance of 3 Ohms; parameters for the non-SL version are 0.3 mV and 5.5 Ohms respectively.

Either version offers incomparable delicacy and nuance, uncompromising dynamics, and truly uncanny presence.

All Lyra cartridges are designed by Jonathan Carr in collaboration with Yoshinori Mishima, and manufactured by Lyra in Japan. Yoshinori will personally create this Olympos or Olympos SL.

Price on application. A unique opportunity to acquire a unique cartridge