What gain should I have?


What gain should I have?
Have an Audio Technica AT150, the Riaa step is a Primare R32 and the amplifier is Audio Research Vsi60. If you lift the cover to the Riaa amplifier you can change the gain either 41.5 db or 46.5 db. How to think about this?
What are the pros and cons of respective gain?
titus1
The 41.5db setting should be fine.  The AT150 has a pretty decent output.

If you have too much gain, you increase noise and the chance of overloading.

Hi, titus1,

As mofimadness says, the 41.5dB of gain should work well with your setup.

If you want some numbers to see why:

4mV output of AT150 into 41.5dB of gain in R32 gives you approximately 475mV output.

Using 46.5dB gain setting in R32 would give you 845mV output.

Input sensitivity of the Vsi60 is 470mV so you shouldn't need additional gain.

Regards,

Tom

PS: Gain calculations based on this website: