Lyra Olympos Phono Cartridge

The LYRA Olympus exists as a special model outside of the standard LYRA range. It is a custom specialty offering, and should not be thought of as our top-of-the-line cartridge.

In the early 1990's we introduced a cartridge model called Parnassus which was later referred to as the blue body, original Parnassus to distinguish it from the later Parnassus D.C.t, an entirely different design.The original Parnassus was based around a very unique platinum-iron magnet and two 5N high-purity iron pole pieces. It had a seductive and attractive sound which made it stand out from the competition at the time.

A few years ago we discovered a stock of 10 platinum-iron magnets and 5N iron polepieces for the Parnassus. LYRA designer Jonathan Carr had long wanted to design an entirely new cartridge using machined titanium for the body, and employing the latest geometry and other cutting-edge features from LYRA's 21st Century cartridges, but using the unique, and by now unavailable, platinum-iron magnet. As a result, a very limited production run of 10 Olympos cartridges was planned.

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.

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