DIY Phono Loading Plugs Question

@chakster  OK I found my Zyx box and spec sheet. It listed >100 ohm which I assume means over 100. I was using the 470 ohm which came with the phono preamp. So I may not need to make any other plugs after all. Preamp (JLTi) came with  100 & 470 ohm plugs. Still. all info appreciated

The main factor in choosing resistors for this application is keeping the noise as low as possible as any noise will be amplified in the following gain stages. Any resistor adds an amount of noise (called Johnson noise) regardless of the conductor material, as well as that each material has its own excess noise (apart from wire wound, but that's has its own inductive properties that rule that out). So that leaves thin film resistors, which in almost all applications are perfectly acceptable or bulk metal foil (like the Vishays suggested by @chakster ) which have exceptional noise performance and are very linear, albeit at a cost.

Yes, definitely upgrade to metal films for this application.  You don't need 1/2 watt either.  

I also have JLTi phono, so all you need is cheap RCA connectors to solder some cheap resistors and you can make many with different value to try what you like. 

Now you have 100 Ohm and 47 000 Ohm

You need something in between such as 500 Ohm, 1000 Ohm, 3000 Ohm and 10 000 Ohm for example. 

In this case you don't know yet what is the best. Just buy cheap resistors to try different loading. 

You can upgrade the resistors after you will understand what value do you need for your Zyx 

@chakster I thought you also had the JLTi. I was using the 470 ohm plug which came with mine. I also got a 100 ohm with it. So I may be good

I think you have the later JLTi from Australia. I see Mr Rasmussen has "updated" the JLTI. I’ve wondered if the new one is better? He offers an upgrade of the older ones. Of course, I suspect he will say it is much better than mine. So I haven’t asked him. Do you have any insight?