Ummm nothing is new. I’ve only ever had the Sumiko Moonstone on the SL-1200GR (living room) with the Sumiko headshell and Sumiko Rainier on the TEAC TN-4D (office).
But yes it sounds lovely. Works fantastically well with a Naim phono stage.
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Adding an updated photo.
I sold my 9" tonearm to upgrade to second 12" version of it. I now have identical arms for my two Lyra Atlas carts. I’m also evaluating the Clearaudio Statement Ebony clamp, which is great so far (but pricey).
It’s on a HRS R3x isolation base that I got a few months ago. That is real game changer for bringing out what the TT is capable of.
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I’m guessing, around $1400?
(1300 in Europe)
A new dynavector xx2 mk2 on its way.
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It’s $1200 here, but there is more to the story.
I asked my dealer to get the Innovation Ebony clamp ($750) and the distributor sent the Statement Ebony by mistake. They look almost identical, and I didn’t realize the mistake until after I broke it open and started using it. The distributor doesn’t really want to take it back, since they can’t sell it as new anymore, so I will end up getting a deal (maybe at the Innovation price?) for their mistake.
It’s not like they’re suffering. They have sold me an Innovation turntable and two Universal 12" arms in the last half year (for close to $30k).
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Did you consider the Te Kaitora Rua @anon70766008 mentioned? My dealer (who sold me a XV-1s some years ago) was telling me the other day how much better they like the Te Kaitora Rua for not much more than the XX2 MkII.
The Te Kaitora Rua costs £2895, the XX2 MkII costs £1399. So it’s a different price league clearly, being more than double in cost. That’s UK prices though. I have the XX2 MkII and it’s an excellent cartridge.
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Oh, my bad. I confused myself and was really referring to XX2 MK II vs Karat 17DX. Those are closer in price.
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I looked into those two recently and my dealer advised for my listening tastes the XX2 MkII. He said if you listen to mainly rock, dance and reggae that would be one to go for. He also said full rounded bass, warm mids and sweet top end.
He said the Karat 17DX was great for vocals and is fast, lean and sweet. He also said the 17DX has a very fragile diamond cantilever. If you prefer female jazz vocals then you might go for that.
Priced the same they are very different in character. I don’t think one ia better than the other. I think the XX2 MkII appealed to me because it isn’t as fragile. I haven’t heard the 17DX though.
My dealer didn’t say the Karat 17DX was fragile; rather, that it’s harder to set up because the cantilever is so short. That wouldn’t be a problem for me since I have the SMARTTractor alignment tool and that makes aligning cartridges really easy and accurate. I haven’t heard the Karat since they redesigned it some year ago.
The DV XX2 MKII is an excellent cartridge, so you can’t go wrong with that.
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I don’t think the 17DX is fragile at all. The cantilever is afaiaa the shortest there is and is made from solid diamond. I love the sound of my D3 which is the previous incarnation and I listen to so many different genres. It works well with them all for me. Great all rounder I would say.
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That’s good to know. The Karat was on my list but the information he gave put me off!
Anyway, happy with what I have.
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My dealer is scared of touching it as the cantilever is so short and always ask me if I wouldn’t mind fitting the stylus guard 
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Just looked at pictures in more detail of Karat 17DX and the cantilever is tiny!
I think I made the right choice. Hopefully my cartridge will last for many years.
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It’s also a rather heavy cartridge at 11 gr. I believe if you are on a Rega that requires a heavier counterweight than what comes with it.
All my cartridges are even heavier. XV-1s is 12.6 gr and the Lyra Atlas Lambda are 11.6 gr. My tonearms come with three different counterweights and I use the heaviest ones.
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I don’t understand why you have two identical arms and cartridges. I thought that having two different combinations would allow you to have two different sonic characteristics.
One is mono, one stereo. If you look at profile it gives the details of the two cartridges.
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But does size really matter, I think we should know
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It’s what you do with the Karat that counts 
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Thank you. I missed that.
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