Cartridge Loading- Low output M/C

No harm for your cartridge at whatever loading, you can ignore manufacturer recommendations if you like the sound using different loading. You can start from 47k Ohm to completely unload your cartridge, then you can try 1k and then 100 Ohm or vise-versa.  

@chakster Thanks for that. I too an considering an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze but with a different pre-amp. These settings had me a little concerned but is seems we can change the loading to suit what we hear?

To a great extent the loading you select will be user and system dependent and based on your subjective preferences.

That being said, internal impedance on the Bronze is (like many Ortofons) quite low at 5 ohms. In theory the 47ohm setting should be ideal but you could experiment all the way from 22 ohms up to 200. I'd be inclined to set the gain at 60 dB on the Koru. 

I'd probably start with 47 ohms and stay there for an extended period of time, especially while the cartridge breaks as it will probably be a bit steely and aggressive for the first 20-30 hours, maybe more. And then experiment from there. 

Bear in mind that the most "impressive" setting may not be the most natural or "best" setting. What grabs one initially can be irritating or fatiguing over longer periods of time. 

@hdm 
I would most definitely agree on your last sentence.
When I changed my cart to a zyx my initial setting ended up being 470ohms as it sounding the "best"
However after some break in the "best" was actually too bright and glaring but at first it had seemed to be by far the best choice.
Now running at 100ohm.

However there is not really anything to hurt by trialing different loadings and just let your ears be the judge.
It does sound like you will end up on the lower end of the spectrum but feel free to play, it will not hurt anything much bar your ears!

Great information...Thank You

have cadenza blue- 100 ohms is best

+1 for 100 ohms. 

At 100 ohms...which gain setting would you use 60 db or 66 ?

My preamp has 60 db of gain for MC and seems adequate.  I would start there and see what ya think. 

Definitely try to stick to 60db gain if at all possible.
The higher the gain the more chance of inducing background noise, you know the hiss you can hear at the speakers with no record playing.
Good luck and trust your ears

In my experience, a very low resistive load, which puts a correspondingly heavy load on the cartridge, acts like a tone control, which is to say that as you approach the internal resistance of the cartridge itself, the treble is rolled off progressively and eventually some gain is lost to ground.  In theory, if the internal R of the Cadenza is 5 ohms, the minimum load resistance would be around 47 ohms, or 10X that of the cartridge, as someone else already suggested above. But I have lately found that even LOMC cartridges sound their best when the cartridge is essentially un-loaded, at 47K ohms.  The treble is more "open" and airy.  Dynamics are also improved vs more traditional values of load resistance.  (LOMCs with low internal resistance, like the Cadenza, are traditionally loaded with 100 ohms, a set it and forget it value.)  Ralph Karsten (Atma-sphere) points out that not all phono stages behave properly when LOMCs are presented with a 47K load, so maybe I am just lucky.  I agree with the person who said that the "best" choice is phono stage AND cartridge dependent.

Just to clarify:

A LOMC set at 47K ohms is technically and electronically NOT "unloaded". Granted it might not do much with it, but it’s still loaded at 47,000 ohms.

Rule of thumb, (as stated above) 10X the internal R is the best place to start.

Proper (or improper) loading of a cartridge will not change the "intrinsic" sonic characteristic of said cartridge.

Also, gain and loading are independent of each other. Always try the lowest gain setting to avoid noise, but choose whatever sounds best at the volume you listen to.

Just to elaborate on what Lewm said, a small loading resistance corresponds to a big load. The reason is that the loading is a resistance across the outputs, and so the cartridge motor has to work hard to get anything past that small resistance.

Think about water flowing in a hose - if you have a tiny pinhole in the hose (a large resistance to water flow escaping), just about everything you put it at the faucet goes out the nozzle. But if you have a great big hole (low resistance to water flow escaping), not much comes out at the nozzle.

The analogy with electric signals is pretty good. Just remember: big loading resistance, small load on the cartridge. Small loading resistance, big load on the cartridge.

I built my phono/pre to allow loading from 5 ohms to 85K. It happens to sit within the manufacturer's suggested range most of the time - it depends on the record. Higher resistance 1K2 for piano, lower resistance 30R for records which were recorded too bright.

Dear @krelldog : I agree with the gentlemans behind 100 ohms very good point to start and I think you will never have to change it. Of course that it's your particular audio system items whom will have the " last word " through your listening experiences over the time.

Btw, very good system you own.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Thanks for all the great insight. I'll start at 100 ohms and set the gain at 60 db's. Hopefully that will sound amazing.

Raul- Thanks for your kind comments.

@krelldog
If the cartridge needs loading below 47K its an indication that the preamp is not stable with Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) at its input.

The loading resistor is not for the cartridge, its for the preamp.

This is because the cartridge inductance combined with the tone arm cable capacitance forms a tuned RF circuit- which is energized by the cartridge signal. It can be over 30 db higher than the phono signal- thats about 1000x more powerful!
The loading resistor detunes the RF circuit, preventing the RFI. The problem is that in so doing, the cartridge is asked to perform more work as it has to drive the lower resistance. This makes the cartridge cantilever stiffer and less able to track higher frequencies. This is why the resistor can act as a tone control.

A side problem is that preamps that have problems with RFI are also far more likely to produce ticks and pops. This is often due to poor overload margin, since a signal that is 1000x more powerful can overload the preamp. The other reason is that the phono circuit can be unstable and react poorly to RFI; either way if the phono section does not have these problems, a side benefit is far less ticks and pops- you may not ever hear any on an entire LP side.
Many phono preamp designers don't realize the RFI implications and so don't know to make sure their circuit is immune to these problems. So instead you see loading switches and the like...

On that thought...all I can say is that my phono preamp (Plinius Koru) is very highly reviewed. I'm currently using an Ortofon Quintet Black. My settings are 22 ohms and I'm using 66 dbs of gain. The sound is spectacular...no issues. These are the only settings I've used since purchasing the Koru. Thus my apprehension with where to set the Koru with my soon arriving Cadenza Bronze...BTW it will be attached to my new VPI Prime Signature. I'm sure I can find the right settings...just really looking for a starting point.

The best starting point to check your cartridge and phono stage is 47k Ohm for MC (take in count what Atmasphere said)  

@atmasphere 

I didn't know most of that. Thanks for sharing!

Krellog,

You got a lot of useful information and advice above, particularly from lewn and atmasphere.  From my own experience, I tend to like to run my cartridges wide open, because my tube-based phonostage is not prone to overload from RFI and I get the most top end extension and "air" that way (this open top end is why one pays big bucks for MC cartridges).  But, if there is close to universal loading (one that works reasonably well with most MC cartridges) it would be around 100-150 ohms. 

Have you listened to your setup with a different loading than 22 ohms?  That would be a LOT of loading for almost any cartridge and it would tend to kill dynamics and make the top end dull.  While the particular sound one likes is a personal preference, I would be concerned that you might be utilizing excessive loading to compensate for other problems that are better addressed more directly.  For example, if you have the tonearm raised too high at the pivot (excessively high VTA/SRA), this tends to create a thin, edgy sound that you might be compensating for by excessive loading).

Dear  @atmasphere : The OP is asking for loading and not why many phono stages works in different way when we make load values.

Who cares, he as any one of us already owns a phono stage it does not matter what and no one can make a world research to find out which phono stages works as should be, it's imposible to do that.

So, what each one of us have to do is to load our cartridges according what we have and according each one music/sound priorities. That's all.

R.

Dear @krelldog : For the first 50-60 hours test it with 100 ohms . During that time is only for the cartridge can overall settle down, after those 50-60 hours you have to re-check the tonearm/cartridge whole set up: overhang, cantilever alignment, VTA/SRA, VTF and AZ and after this " fine tunning " excersice you can to start your listening tests starting with that 100 ohms and  listening for a while and the make a change either to 47 ohms or 220 ohms then you can decide where is better for you.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

Atmasphere 5-21-2018
This is because the cartridge inductance combined with the tone arm cable capacitance forms a tuned RF circuit- which is energized by the cartridge signal.  It can be over 30 db higher than the phono signal- thats about 1000x more powerful!

To add to Ralph’s (Atmasphere’s) response, with which I of course agree, the input capacitance of the phono stage will add to the capacitance of the phono cable.  And I see that the Koru provides two selections for input capacitance, namely 100 pf and 570 pf. You are likely to find that the 100 pf setting will allow you to use lighter loading (i.e., higher resistance values) than the 570 pf setting.

Also, related to all of this the following excerpt from a post dated 8-14-2010 in this thread, by Lyra cartridge designer Jonathan Carr, will be of interest:

I should now debunk another myth regarding loading, which is that low-impedance MC cartridges are insensitive to capacitive loading. OK, the MC cartridges themselves aren’t particularly sensitive to capacitance, but the inductance of the cartridge coils will resonate with the distributed capacitance of the coils and the capacitance of the tonearm cable to create a high-frequency spike, and this spike certainly is sensitive to capacitance. In general, the less the capacitance the better. Having more capacitance (across the plus and minus cartridge outputs) will increase the magnitude of the high-frequency spike and lower its frequency, neither of which is good news for phono stage stability or phase response.

Generally speaking, the greater the capacitance across the plus and minus cartridge outputs, the heavier the resistive loading needs to be to control the resulting high-frequency spike. Conversely, less capacitance allows the resistive load on the cartridge to be reduced, which will benefit dynamic range, resolution and transient impact.

Good luck.  Regards,
-- Al

The OP is asking for loading and not why many phono stages works in different way when we make load values.

Who cares, he as any one of us already owns a phono stage it does not matter what and no one can make a world research to find out which phono stages works as should be, it's imposible to do that.

So, what each one of us have to do is to load our cartridges according what we have and according each one music/sound priorities. That's all.

@krelldog You can safely ignore Raul's remarks in this matter. Most of the remarks above are false.

My prior comments were about the theory behind how all this works.
Regarding your situation, it is advisable to run the least amount of loading possible (by least, meaning the highest resistance with the least capacitance). To this end, you might see if you can find out what the capacitance is of your tone arm cable. If you can find a cable with less capacitance, it might sound better even though it might also be less expensive. A shorted cable will of course have less capacitance- for example cutting your cable to half of its length will double the resonant frequency (assuming no input capacitance in the phono section; some solid state phono sections have quite a lot of input capacitance due to the capacitance at the gate or base of the first semiconductor used). The more capacitance the cable has, the lower the resonant frequency and its best to keep the latter as high as possible.
If it just does not sound right with 47K as a load, I would use the highest loading resistance available to you that takes the edge off. I've not played with every Krell phono section but those I have have been unhappy without loading, suggesting an unstable phono section. The actual goal is not only tonal neutrality, but **also** the least ticks and pops. When you load at a very low value (like less than 100 ohms) its possible to reduce the cartridge output and also decrease high frequency tracking abilities. So this should be avoided if at all possible.
There is no 'set' value of loading that can be specified by any cartridge manufacturer (and suggestions from other audiophiles won't be ideal either). This is because they cannot predict the tone arm cable capacitance nor the input capacitance of the phono stage (ours tends to be quite low as this has been on our radar for decades). So the values you see cartridge manufacturers suggest are always generalities, as they can't assume that a given phono section is stable. But at the same time, this is also why 47K is suggested and is the industry standard- because its really all that is needed if the phono section is properly designed. 

Nicely said atmasphere!

@krelldog : Some persons think that invented the " black thread ". That atmasphere advice is the same on almost each loading thread from years but in reality does not solves what we are looking for. The theory behind that is true but through several cartridges I owned over time that capacitance issue never helps or damages the listening experiences through LOMC cartridges .

After you do what I posted you can make tests changing capacitance and you will attest what I said here.

@almarg , I read in the past that from J.Carr. Now, please tell me if you have first hand experiences where you can attest it.
In the other side in the Lyra website exist no single reference to that, here what you can read on the Atlas that's a 8-9+K dollars cartridge:

"" 

• Recommended load directly into MC phono input: 104ohm ~ 887ohm (determine by listening, or follow detailed guidelines in user manual) ""

there you can read what J.Carr yes the same J.carr you name it says: " determine by listening ".

@uberwaltz, " terrific "/great post from your part. Enriched the OP thread.


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.


http://lyraanalog.com/atlas/

Raul.
Your pointless sarcasm does not go unheeded
Enjoy the music indeed......

Atmasphere- My phono stage is a Plinius...not Krell. My AudioGon name is krelldog..thus the confusion.

BTW- My phono cable is a VPI phono cable. I'll try and post a link with the specs.

http://www.elusivedisc.com/VPI-JMW-RCA-Phono-Cable-RCA-to-RCA-1-Meter/productinfo/VPI-D1019/
I believe it this..or there last version.

Rauliruegas 5-22-2018
@almarg , I read in the past that from J.Carr. Now, please tell me if you have first hand experiences where you can attest it.

Attest to what?

I don’t see any inconsistency between what I said, what Mr. Carr’s post that I quoted said, and what you quoted from the Lyra website.

The point, generally speaking, is that minimizing the capacitive load seen by an LOMC cartridge is likely to result in optimal resistive loading being lighter than the resistive load that would be optimal if the capacitive load is higher. And in turn the lighter resistive load is likely to be sonically beneficial.

That makes sense based on theoretical analysis that can be performed, and is backed up by statements by Mr. Carr and by Ralph (Atmasphere), who collectively probably have more relevant expertise than the rest of us put together. And for that matter it is consistent with suggestions provided by Keith Herron for his VTPH-2 phono stage, which I use. From its manual:

We highly recommend trying the VTPH-2 in the no load configuration as the unit is supplied for many moving coil cartridges. 47,000 (47K) ohm RCA load plugs are supplied with the unit for optional use. Additional user specified loading plugs can also be purchased with the unit.

The input resistance of the VTPH-2 is nearly infinite when no loading plug is used, yet Mr. Herron suggests trying that configuration when his phono stage is used with "many moving coil cartridges." And that is how I use mine with my Audio Technica AT-ART9 cartridge, after having also tried 1K and 47K. Audio Technica’s load recommendation for the ART9 is "100 ohms minimum."

And contrary to what you seem to be implying, none of this is in any way inconsistent with a recommendation to "determine by listening." It is a general guideline which can provide a useful starting point, and in some cases what can turn out to be an ending point.

Regards,
-- Al

Will 47 ohms work? Or should I start out at 100 ohms?

You have to try it. There is no Standard (unfortunately). The result will be different from Manufacturer to Manufacturer. Phonstage A with 100ohm will not sound identical to Phonostage B with 100ohm...Depends on Design.

Dear @almarg : I understand all what you posted and that's theory behind.

When I said if you have first hand experiences/attest for that what I'm trying to say is that with a normal phono stage design that normally comes with fixed capacitance value for LOMC cartridges and options for the loading impedance . This is what I'm refereing to.

As Syntax pointed out each phono stage comes with way different kind of designs. So what's your advice to audiophiles about? that because they can't change the capacitance value or don't have money to change too the phono cable then what?

Makes no sense advices as the atmasphere about because there are several many other cartridge set up parameters way more important. All of us must work with what we have using it in the best way we can. The capacitance issue has other implications with LOMC but this not the issue but what exist in the market about.

You are happy with the Herron, good for you but are many way better phono stages with different design to Herron. Try to say or imply that a single characteristic makes the " differences " like the capacitance in LOMC cartridges has no sense. The theory has sense but this is not the issue.

I think that analog is full of severe problems fopr we can enjoy it to now start to worry about capacitance. Go figure ! !

As I said, there are other issues extremely more important where we audiophiles have control with out spend money.

Makes sense to you that now all audiophiles must do something on capacitance? because the common sense of J.Carr says something different in his Lyra site.

Again, I'm not against  that theory but about ist real advantage  especially when before the capacitance issue many of us are trying to know how can we  achieve an accurate tonearm/cartridge/TT alignment that even reviewers today some of them just don't understand the theory behind that kind of critical alignment issue.

@krelldog , don't distress. Makes no changes just make the cartridge tests with what you have and follows what syntax posted. You have to try it, makes tests with what you have before any other thing. Forgeret about theory in that specific regards. Some people try to terrorize to all of us simple audiophiles. No J.Carr never did or does.

R.

Hi Raul,

With regard to the OP's situation, all I was basically saying is that he is likely to obtain better results using the 100 pf setting of his phono stage rather than the 570 pf setting, assuming that he optimizes the resistive loading that is used with the 100 pf setting by listening.

Regards,
-- Al 

There is a massive misunderstanding that seems implicit with Raul's post, which is not surprising since Raul  prefers digital audio... no idea why he posts here.

This is not about money, its the physics of why its worth it do to it right, which does not cost any more. If your phono section is requiring that you use loading resistances, follow my suggestions here and above.

Input capacitance is a thing with all phono sections. It can be considered to be in parallel with the cartridge inductance, and so reduces the resonant frequency that is always present, which should be kept as high as possible. If ever there was an argument for a vacuum tube input, this might well be it, since tubes have far less input capacitance.
Alternatively, if one were to use a stepup transformer, the transformer blocks the RFI resonance due to bandwidth limitations and may well be why some people prefer using an SUT with their phono sections. SUTs are their own bag of tricks- to get them to work right, they have to be loaded at their output to prevent the transformer from ringing (distorting). This value is different for every cartridge as each cartridge has a different impedance and transformers transform impedance. Usually the transformer manufacturer will have an idea of what the correct loading will be (a good example in this regard is Jensen, who also makes some of the best SUTs made).

At any rate, keeping the cable capacitance low is important for proper phono reproduction! @krelldog , there are no specs (just 'features') on the page you linked.

If no SUT is used, one should always start with 47K since that is the industry standard and has been for decades. This value is used because its less susceptible to noise that a higher input impedance might be, while easily driven by moving magnet cartridges which are very susceptible to loading at audio frequencies, unlike moving coil cartridges (unless the latter is high output, since its the inductance that causes the susceptibility). From there reducing the loading resistance can be explored if needed.

**The highest value you can use is recommended for best results.**

That can be considered a general rule of thumb.

Again, if the phono section is unstable or has poor overload margins the result will be more ticks and pops. People often ask me how I get such low noise reproduction without ticks and pops and that is the secret. Many people grew up with unstable phono sections (most Japanese phono equalizers made during the 60s, 70s and 80s were unstable) and so just assume that ticks and pops are part of the LP experience, but it does not have to be that way.

Dear @almarg : " basically saying ", now I understand you and now your advise is useful when the post of the atmasphere it's not for the OP.

But he always post with a hidden agenda that sooner or latter comes out like in this regards:

for a few time ago he was posting here and elsewhere the same about that capacitance LOMC issue and he just posted here:

"  People often ask me how I get such low noise reproduction without ticks and pops and that is the secret. "

why he posted that? no one is asking for but he did it because he is a seller a very agressive seller that always post with a hidden agenda. Now, the ones that read here know that his electronics are just " perfect ".

I'm not against any manufacturer as him what is not valid is to post trying not really to help ( as you ) but to sell " something ". It's the same with TP tonearms and everything where he has or look for a bu$ine$$.

"""  Raul prefers digital audio... no idea why he posts here  ""

well I don't know why this forum permits to a seller to promotes in an audiophile threads because he never gives an advice as an audiophiile but as a seller. He is not like J.Carr that posted and post in Agon and other forums and you will never read JC promoting anything he doings only gives honest advices as an audiophile. 

Time to report it.

R.

Raul, All you have to do is have a stable phono section. I'm not the only one that makes one by any means. JCarr is aware of this issue and he offers phono sections as well. Nelson Pass seems to be as well, his phono sections work without ticks or pops too. I think we can add Jim Hagerman to that list. His website has a lot of useful information on this topic:http://www.hagtech.com/loading.html
It seems to me that the real problem is that you now realize that you have ticks and pops and now you know a reason for it that you didn't before. That sort of revelation usually doesn't sit well with a person that likes to think they have everything sorted out.

Atmasphere- I appreciate all your insight and help. I currently have no ticks and pops with my analog setup.VPI Prime-Plinius Koru-Pass Labs Integrated 60 -Phono Cable is VPI with ground-Interconnect from Phono pre to the Pass Integrated is AudienceAU 24 i XLR. BTW my cartridge is an Ortofon Black Quintet.
With that said...because I have no issues currently-does this suggest that I have a stable phono section?
Thanks in advance.

No, it does not necessarily mean that you have a phonostage that is behaving like Atmasphere described; you are utilizing extreme loading (22 ohms) which would prevent overloading from ultrasonic signals, and to some extent, the sharp transients of a tick or pop.  You should try your current setup with the loading set at 47k ohms (or totally unloaded, if that option is available) to see what happens.  Just experiment with all loading options, and with each setting, leave it at that setting for some time so that your ear/brain gets acclimated to the new sound.  

To me, utilizing high loading (low value of resistor) takes away a lot of what one hopes to get out of moving from run of the mill MM cartridges to a MC cartridge--the vibrancy, liveliness and top end extension is wiped away.  If your set up sounds "wrong" with more modest loading, such as 100 ohms, something might be wrong elsewhere.

@atmasphere : Wrong, my Phonolinepreamp is designed in the rigth way. As I said you are not dicovering the black thread, at least not for me.

One gentleman that can attest about those absence thicks/pops that you think I have is @cardani whom attend to my place not one but several times and he can chimes on it.

No the issue is that the advise is really useless. Please think that any audiophile already owns an audio system where as @krelldog only want advice to load his new carrtridge. He already has a phono stage and cables with a level of capacitance that normally for MC stages can’t change about and we have to live with what we own.
Where can we try to change capacitance?, maybe with a different IC cable but exist one problem almost no one of the cable manufacturers gives the cable capacitance value, here is an example in a very expensive cable:

https://www.kimber.com/products/KS-1236

so now, we have to own a voltimeter/multimeter to measure our own cable and how can we decide for which change it? and if we change it how can we know it works as the theory says?, yes, we can buy another one and another one till we find out the one that could help because we can’t eliminate at 100% those thicks/pops no matter what. Additional we already own a tonearm that the tonearm manufacturers normally ( few does it. ) does not gives the tonearm internal capacitance.

I have no problem in my system but add the capacitance/MC issue to all " thousands " of critical subjects that we have to take in count to achieve a decent analog experiences makes no sense to me when many audiophiles ( including me. ) are trying not only to understand but to obtain information of the best way for match tonearm with a cartridge, its correct alignment, loading, setting-up: VTA/SRA, VTF, AZ, AS, platter mat, clamps, TT plattforms, phono stage RIAA deviation, Phono stage noise/distortion levels, Phono stage output impedance, etc, etc etc

There are priorities and the capacitance is certainly not a critical priority because normally is out of each one of us control. Lucky the ones that has the rigth phono stage but that capacitance subject is not for any one can " lost " his dream. It’s not practically.

@krelldog, read what @larryi posted and forgeret of all those capacitance issue that you don’t have it.

R.

Atmasphere- I appreciate all your insight and help. I currently have no ticks and pops with my analog setup.VPI Prime-Plinius Koru-Pass Labs Integrated 60 -Phono Cable is VPI with ground-Interconnect from Phono pre to the Pass Integrated is AudienceAU 24 i XLR. BTW my cartridge is an Ortofon Black Quintet.
With that said...because I have no issues currently-does this suggest that I have a stable phono section?

To your question, if with 47K as a load, then yes :)

larryi makes a good point, +1:

utilizing high loading (low value of resistor) takes away a lot of what one hopes to get out of moving from run of the mill MM cartridges to a MC cartridge--the vibrancy, liveliness and top end extension is wiped away.

"""  If your set up sounds "wrong" with more modest loading, such as 100 ohms, something might be wrong elsewhere ""

R.

@krelldog do you know your phono cable capacitance? To make sure you load the cartridge best and assure high dynamics and resolution it would be good to know.
Then you can set your Koru by mathematical process, as others stated this will/should allow your cartridge to work "less" rather than harder which will stiffen the cantilever and reduce cart life. The stylus will not ride in the grooves easily......
I originally had a high cap cable and changed to a very low cap cable and the difference is close to night and day......I load my Delos at 475 ohms and 57.5dB gain with a phono cable at about 60pF.

Total bliss.......

I can't find the specs on my VPI phono cable anywhere online. Not even on VPI's website...apparently its a secret. If anyone knows or can find it..please let me know.

Any examples of great phono cables with low capacitance?

I switched my settings- Loaded at 47K--tried gain at 56db. Very pleasant...had to turn volume up. I typically listen to Lp’s at 36-40 volume setting on my Pass Int 60. With these new setting I turned it up to 44-48. Sound is detailed but a bit laid back.

I kept my loading at 47K and turned gain up to 60 db’s. This seemed to bring the punch back. Very pleasant and even more detailed. I’m listening to Steely Dan Aja (side 1) This seems to bring my Pass volume level back to where it was when it was set at 22 ohms/66 db gain.

All in all... very pleasant at 47K. With the gain at 60 I’m very happy with the sound. I actually wish I had a 58 db gain setting...it might just be perfect.

BTW- I have this option/feature on my phono/pre.

Input capacitance to 100pF or 570pF,

What should I be set at?

Did you read my earlier posts?

Almarg 5-22-2018
I see that the Koru provides two selections for input capacitance, namely 100 pf and 570 pf. You are likely to find that the 100 pf setting will allow you to use lighter loading (i.e., higher resistance values) than the 570 pf setting.... [And quoting Lyra cartridge designer Jonathan Carr]:  "Less capacitance allows the resistive load on the cartridge to be reduced [i.e., the number of ohms to be increased], which will benefit dynamic range, resolution and transient impact."

Almarg 5-22-2018
The point, generally speaking, is that minimizing the capacitive load seen by an LOMC cartridge is likely to result in optimal resistive loading being lighter than the resistive load that would be optimal if the capacitive load is higher. And in turn the lighter resistive load is likely to be sonically beneficial.

Almarg 5-23-2018
With regard to the OP’s situation, all I was basically saying is that he is likely to obtain better results using the 100 pf setting of his phono stage rather than the 570 pf setting, assuming that he optimizes the resistive loading that is used with the 100 pf setting by listening.

Regards,
-- Al

Sorry Almarg...I've been trying to wrap my brain around loading and gain...
Rearding input capacitance....I have 100pf and 570 pf....just not sure how to change or where its even at.

I took a look at the manual, which can be found at the Plinius site. On page 11 (pdf page 13) it can be seen that the capacitance switch is to the left of the resistive loading switches, and appears to be identified as switch "1", and it should be set to the "Up" position for 100 pf.

Enjoy! Regards,
-- Al

I found it...I hate reading directions.