Thank you to all members who responded so far. Each has re-educated me about these two types of MC's, and also the dark horse, moving iron design offered by the Sound-Smith company which I considered but only up to the" Otello" model which is listed at $479.
The issue of phono pre-amp gain and pre-amp and amp gain seems crucial, but so does cartridge/tonearm interface My current system is a Moon Audio LP -110 phono pre-amp The MM gain is 40db, and MC gain is 60db. The Moon tech said that the MM gain is high enough for even the Denon DL110 HOMC with an published spec output of 1.6 mV. The DL-103 LOMC is .0.3 and the infamous DL 103R LOMC is approximately the same. The LOMC DL-103 is actually less expensive than HOMC DL-110.
The rest of my rig is the Conrad Johnson PV14L SE and BAT VK-200 amp; the speakers are the Golden Ear Technology 7's . I am sure how the interface of the amp , pre-amp, LP-110 PP and any LOMC would play out so I need to do a little home work.
BTW, the Denon DL-110 HOMC weights 4.8 grams. I don't recall the weight of the DL-103 LOMC. I mentioned this because several of you probably saw my thread about TT at $1100 or under. . I am still mulling over keeping the U-Turn Orbit PlusTT with the Ortofon 2M RED cartridge which has a output of 5.5 mV which sounds better after replacing original motor because of a hum problem. The new motor has reduced 90% of the hum. but there is a residual low-level hum still there, but is not distracting or annoying..
Lastly, with the above setup of electronics and Ortofon cartridge, at step 64 out 99 steps on volume control of the CJ line stage, the sound is very loud. but good. I am hoping a better cartridge whether MM or MC will improve the sound, but the tonearm on U-Turn table is not well suited for anything higher than the two Denon MC's I have indicated. Any further comments or advice is welcomed Thanks, SJ
