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MC loading at 47K

Hi All,

Just after some expert advice from your good selves if I may. My current system is as follows:

Musical Fidelity KW550 intergrated amp which has a MM and MC section, both loaded at 47K. The only difference between them is the step up voltage.

My turntable is the Rega P9 with Ortofon Kontrapunkt A.

Looking at changing my cartridge but honestly cant decide between MM or MC.

My music taste are as follows:

Reggae
Soul
Female Vocal
RNB

No classical or jazz.

So what should I choose based I'm only limited to a 47K loading. I was thinking either of the below:

1. Ortofon Jubilee (MC)
2. Ortofon 2M black (MM)
3. Clear Audio Maestro (MM)

Is there a down side to loading up a MC so much?

Thoughts please...thanks
che13
stops
56 posts
 
Dan_ed: I have read the references you suggested,thanks. Is this different from the analysis of a critically damped tuned/ resonant circuit? I would imagine that the "loss" of energy in the sound with the reduction of the 47K load is the reduction of the resonant peak within the audio band around 10 -15Khz and quite common in MC cartridges. Surely a more accurate reproduction would be without this peak present? The earlier reference I posted shows the result of this in a real world cartridge.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,984 posts
 
Stops, sounds to me like you have a pretty good understanding of what is going on here. We are indeed talking about a tuned resonant circuit, and how to damp its behavior.
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Stops, yes it is a resonant circuit, no news there. There was something in the information from the link you posted that didn't quite sit well with me, but looking back now I can't think of what it was. NOthing earth shattering. I think it was something simple, like pointing out that we are really tuning more for upstream cables and circuits rather than just the generator itself. I know many people (not saying you) get agitated by cart specs that only say ">30 ohms" and not give a specific value. Hopefully, folks understand the why after reading those posts.
syntax's avatar
syntax
2,193 posts
 
I think, there is also some useful information at the website from Stan Klyne (www.klyne.com), he found the solution to do it right.
stops
56 posts
 
It is refreshing to hear from sane personnel. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I will reiterate a point I made much earlier and that is -I found much greater differences in the sound from the VTA and playing weight than I did from adjusting the load resistance of the cartridge. So I suggest that adjustment be done first using a playing weight in the middle of the spec as per the manufacturer and a tone arm that is level.
Intuitively I would expect a critically damped cartridge to handle complex orchestral pieces better (faster recovery?). I do find that I can hear much more of the individual instruments in a complex passage with an optimum load.
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