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Cartridge loading

Presently I am using a ZU/Denon DL103 mc cartridge with ZU Audio's highest tolerances.  I had this cartridge mounted on my VPI Prime and after going through all the various loading combinations, I settled on 200 ohms.  I was always satisfied with my choice of setting.  I no longer have the Prime and now use the Technics SL1200G turntable.  After having the same cartridge mounted and aligned by the dealer, I inserted it into my system and enjoyed the sound immensely, never touching the 200 ohm setting.

Yesterday I was listening to vinyl most of the day and for some reason I found the sound to be better than ever, mostly in the treble area.  The highs had shimmer when needed and I had played the same records many times before on the Prime and they never sounded as good as they did yesterday.  Just for the heck of it, I checked the cartridge loading and found it was now set at 1000 ohms.  As I said, when I put the Technics into the system, I never bothered changing the loading which was at 200 ohms as it was the same cartridge, just a different turntable.

I believe I know what happened, when I last used the tone controls on my McIntosh preamp, (you have to shuffle through a menu) I must have inadvertently put the cartridge loading at 1000 ohms.  It truly sounds fantastic, better than I ever thought possible.  The Bass is still very deep and taut, midrange is the same but the treble, oh my, so much better.  Now the million dollar question is why should it now sound better at 1000 ohms, when it sounded great before at 200 ohms?  Can the tonearm on the Technics have an effect on cartridge loading?  I always thought it was all dependent on the preamp, amp and speakers.  What am I missing here?  I am very curious to know.  The specs for my cartridge say greater than 50 ohms for loading.

Thanks
128x128stereo5
intactaudio
302 posts
 
Mijostyn,

The Hagerman site gives loading examples for what appear to be a typical MM cartridge where the resonances being damped are just outside the audio band.  This discussion has been about MC cartridges where the resonance in question is typically above 1 megahertz which is a very different situation.  The typical MC cartridge has around 1/1000th the inductance of an MM so enter 0.005 into the mH field of the calculator to see what we are discussing.  

I for one would love to see documentation of the ability of a cartridge to generate a 1MHz signal to excite this resonance.

dave
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rauliruegas
13,112 posts
 
Rigth.
lewm
13,350 posts
 
I think it’s analogous to “back EMF” that affects the interface between amplifier and electromagnetic speakers. The movement of the coil on the cantilever that is excited by the groove is not perfectly damped. Any spurious motion thus created would generate a voltage. The load resistor affects the degree to which the spurious motion of cantilever is damped out. Why is it hard to imagine that the damping force makes the cantilever also do more work?
But I’m just guessing pending an opinion fro Ralph or Dave.
whoopycat
169 posts
 
I just read this review and thought of Ralph's comments:

http://www.10audio.com/aurorasound_VIDA_Prima.htm

Just being curious, I unloaded the Madake by switching the loading to 47k Ohms. WOW! The upper frequencies opened up and became noticeably clearer and with finer resolution. Update to my advice above, start your tests for the optimum loading setting with the MM (47k) settings.

The VIDA Prima and Pass XP-25 share an important attribute: they both sound best when the Miyajima cartridge is loaded at 47k Ohms. This suggests circuits that are designed to manage a MC cartridges’ tendency to sound better loaded, a weakness we refer to as “ringing”. Some of this artifact could be an issue with the phono preamplifier. The VIDA Prima does not seem to have any tendency to exacerbate ringing.

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rauliruegas
13,112 posts
 
Dear @lewm : """ is not perfectly damped... "" almost nothing in audio is perfect. Where do you read what you posted not only that but about that sporious motion that stiffens the cantilever?

Everything in a cartridge quality performance is important in its design and building quality but the cartridge suspension is CRITICAL and you can ask Ortofon about and you will know what they have to say in that issue.

The problem is that for years atmasphere posted here and in other net sites the same with out shows any single foundation ( numbers/charts, white papers, etc. ) that can attest that the cartridge lost high frequency tracking abilities ( " it can also affect the compliance of the cantilever of the cartridge. " """ will limit the ability of the cartridge to trace higher frequencies .."""   These are statements he posted.) and till we have true facts about by his side what he said on the subject is just false and with no true sense of that lost high frequency tracking ability by the cartridge. Maybe makes sense to you, not to me.

R.


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