Manley Chinook - setting for Ortofon Quintet Black S

I don’t have a Quintet but have used several similar Ortofon MCs. You definitely want 60dB over 45dB. But even 60 is a bit too low for that 0.3mV output, imho. The "Special Edition" Chinook from Upscale appears to add a 65dB gain mode which would be PERFECT for 0.3mV. That 5dB can make the difference between nice but slightly lifeless / anemic playback and exciting playback.

Capacitance should generally be kept to a minimum for MC cartridges. Try 0. It won’t actually be 0 (you phono cables have capacitance), but you want as close that that as possible.

With Ortofons like yours I would usually prefer either the 50 or 80 ohms loading. Try both. But either of these settings should sound good.

Anything over 50 ohms load resistance could reasonably be used without important compromise to performance.  It's a matter of taste.

As long as your preamp has around 12-15db of gain and your amp has an average input sensitivity of around 2v, the Manley’s  60db setting will be fine with your cartridge. 

This thread is so old tjjunk won't care anymore but what the hell here you go.

Same cartridge I have found the following settings sound great to me.

60db gain

150 ohms

awesome 

i wll try that