Best Way for my TT to reach my Pre-Amp!?

Can somebody teach me how the capacitance works for matching to my Nagaoka MP-110?

Unfortunately it appears that the manufacturer does not provide a load capacitance recommendation. And various anecdotal reports I found regarding what capacitance may be optimal for it are inconsistent and inconclusive.

I did find mention of a measurement someone performed of the cartridge’s inductance, the result being 810 mH (milliHenries). That is a very high number, and suggests to me that relatively low load capacitance is more likely than not to be optimal. However that can’t be said with certainty, and in any event we don’t know what the input capacitance of the phono stage in the Marantz is. And of course capacitances vary widely among different cables, as well as being proportional to cable length for a given cable type. So it comes down to guesswork and trial and error at this point.

If you do purchase a separate phono stage, though, it would be best to choose one which provides a choice of several different load capacitance settings.

Regards,
-- Al

Thanks Al. I found a report that the cartridge capacitance for the MP-110 is either 100 or 300.

Is the goal to get the capacitance of the tone arm, phono cable, and input capacitance of the preamp to match the recommended total capacitance of the cartridge? 

What are your thoughts on tube preamp vs solid state. 

I found a report that the cartridge capacitance for the MP-110 is either 100 or 300.

As I said, "various anecdotal reports I found regarding what capacitance may be optimal for it are inconsistent and inconclusive." Those are very different numbers :-)

Also, 100 pf is too low to be achievable with many phono stages in many setups.

Is the goal to get the capacitance of the tone arm, phono cable, and input capacitance of the preamp to match the recommended total capacitance of the cartridge?

Yes, for a moving magnet cartridge ideally the sum of the capacitances of the tonearm cable, the phono cable, and the input capacitance of the phono stage should fall within the range of load capacitance recommended by the manufacturer of the cartridge, assuming the manufacturer provides a recommendation. And they should provide a recommendation, but as in this case they sometimes don’t.

What are your thoughts on tube preamp vs solid state.

I have no experience with phono stages in the price range you appear likely to be interested in. But I’ll mention that some tube-based phono stages may have problems driving line-level inputs having low input impedances. (An input designated as being for connection of a CD player, for example, is a line-level input). And the input impedance of the line-level inputs of the AV7704 is not specified. So if you want to consider a tube-based phono stage it would be best to first ask Marantz what that number is. If it is say 30K or 40K (30,000 or 40,000 ohms) or higher there won’t be a problem with almost any phono stage. But if it is much lower than that some tube-based phono stages might have a problem.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

Great to know thank you Al! 
I already wrote Marantz about the phono input capacitance. I will write them about the line level input impedance as well. 
I wish I understood how that all worked. Impede sounds like it’s resisting something. So if the Marantz has low impedance then why would a tube amp have a hard time with it? So would I also want to make sure the operating ohms of a tube amp is on the higher end and closer to 30-40k?

I wish I understood how that all worked. Impede sounds like it’s resisting something. So if the Marantz has low impedance then why would a tube amp have a hard time with it? So would I also want to make sure the operating ohms of a tube amp is on the higher end and closer to 30-40k?

Yes, resistance is a form of impedance. For further explanation of the difference between impedance and resistance see my first post in the following thread:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/the-difference-between-impedance-and-resistance

A tube power amplifier is very unlikely to have a problem with the Marantz. What I was referring to that **might** result in a less than optimal impedance match is driving the Marantz with the output of some tube-based phono stages.

It’s important to distinguish between how output impedances and input impedances relate to the component providing the signal. From the perspective of the component providing the signal the input impedance it is driving appears in parallel. Thus the higher the input impedance the lighter the load it presents to the component providing the signal. While output impedances can be thought of as being in series with the connection, and thus the higher the output impedance the more the signal will be affected by the interaction of output impedance and input impedance. Which tends to be especially problematical if output impedance is high AND input impedance is low AND either impedance varies significantly as a function of frequency, in which case frequency response and/or phase response anomalies can result.

And components employing tube-based output stages often have coupling capacitors at their outputs. The impedance presented by a capacitor increases as frequency decreases, which often results in the output impedance of a component employing a tube-based output stage being much higher at deep bass frequencies than the specified output impedance, which is usually based on a mid-range frequency such as 1 kHz.

For further comments regarding impedance matching of line-level interfaces, see my first post in the following thread:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/amp-preamp-impedance-matching-can-anyone-explain

Regards,
-- Al