Phono Preamp Gain

nmo25,

I HAVE the PL HP, a VPI,and used a Schiit Mani, while my main unit was in the shop.

Don't drive yourself mad figuring what is "absolute" on paper.

One of the 2 first MM settings will be fine. Using your ears, in this instance, won't damage anything. 

The Mani is a great entry level, cheap unit. In my case, it served as something to get by with, while waiting for my "proper" phonostage to be repaired.

Your system is being underserved. With that amp,table/cart and speaker setup, you're  only hearing 60-70% of what it's capable of.

Consider a  Chinook or Herron, they seem to be the 2 most popular tube based units here. Use a tube phonostage to keep the tube vibe(realistic/convincing) presentation. You have that PL(tubed) for a reason.

Naturally, this is IMHO.

I’d agree that he’d realize huge performance gains going to one of those fine tube/hybrid phonos over a budget SS like the Schiit. I have the Herron and a VAC Renaissance after upgrading through phono stages for years; both are absolutely fantastic. The Rogue Ares (and probably their new Triton 2) is also very very good for much less money, but those more expensive units are certainly better.

Tablejockey,

Of course! I wanted to see if I was in the right ballpark before messing around and finding out what sounds best. I haven’t bought the soundmith cart yet, but the compliance works well with the lighter VPI arm so my next bet was to see if the output would be close to one of the gains on the mani. 

Obviously my phono stage is the bottleneck in the system, and eventually I would like to upgrade that. I appreciate the tube preamp recommendations because that’s definitely the path I’ll be going down. I’m not sure if the JBLs are anywhat of a good match for the Primaluna but I got them for dirt cheap at an estate sale so they are staying for a while. 

You don't really need to worry about any math equations, because you have a combination that cannot fail to provide enough gain up the chain, and because you cannot damage anything by experimentation. But if you insist, there are excellent calculators for converting signal voltage to db and vice-versa, on the internet.  There may  be one on the KAB website, for example.  For what it's worth, I am running an MI cartridge with output similar to that of your cartridge into a Manley Steelhead, with no added gain downstream from any linestage.  I find the 55 db setting on the Steelhead works fine.  My amplifiers seem to have a very high input sensitivity (meaning, full output is achieved with much less than 1V input), which helps. In your case, because you do have an active linestage section that adds 12db, according to others who posted here, probably 48 or 50db is a good choice.

I tried all the recommended MM levels on my Schiit Mani and Freya with a Grado MM. Two levels sounded good. One was a better match for being similar to my digital rigs channel, so I'm using that. (I should note there was a distortion before the unit and cables burned in, so if yours is a new set up, do a burn in on the Mani).