Cartridge loading

Cartridge loading discussions were endless, are endless and will be endless...
To make it short, to dampen a cartridge means, you reduce their headroom, 
47kΩ is 'open', you can hear the cart purest, the way it was made, when 
your System is not up to the task to handle that (and most can't), you can 
dampen it down (some say it has to be done based on high frequency 
distortions but that is wrong). With one of the better Phono Stages you can hear 
it easily when you step down from 47kΩ it always becomes more slow 
and dull (but honestly a lot of Systems need that, the wonder word is: 
Compensation, with Cables you can do the same)
To design a Phonostage which is silent, not sensitive to hum or other 
influences, probably with higher gain (62dB and more) AND finally has to sound 
like music and not dead and lifeless (most do) ---> this is VERY difficult to do , 
the Designer really needs knowledge about that chapter. In the last 15 years I 
only heard 3 Phonostages which were able to solve that
- Klyne Phono 7
- Atma-Sphere
- J. Curl Vendetta
All the other countless designers will find endless reasons why their units run 
best with 100Ω or 125Ω or 165,37Ω or 358.5Ω -:) but at 
the end of the day, they can't do it better. It is the way it is.
Marketing can replace knowledge [and does of course and when it is repeated 
countless times, it becomes ---> A Fact :-)]
Years ago a lot of cartridge manufacturers wrote in their datas: recommended 
loading 47kOhm (Benz for example)....with the result, that the customers 
tortured their dealers that their Phonostages were not able to run with 
47kΩ (or they sounded simply awful with this setting, Levinson, XONO and 
so on), and they didn't buy the cartridge. 
No deal is the worst deal for a 'Dealer'
Now we have in the manuals: Recommended loading 100Ω -47kΩ 
The problem is solved now
That's High End :-)

Syntax,

you mention cartridges sound purest into 47K and dull into larger loads and if your phono stage isn't up to it you are in trouble.  

Mocrief suggests (and then supports with data) that the "dull" sound reported from loading a cartridge is simply the removal of high frequency distortions mistakenly perceived as detail.  He goes on to suggest that many accept added information not in the original to compensate for deficiencies elsewhere in the system.

These are two very different takes on the same topic and currently Moncrief's viewpoint is somewhat more plausible to me.  

Marketing can replace knowledge [and does of course and when it is repeated 
countless times, it becomes ---> A Fact :-)]

I 100% agree with the above.  Facts are objective, repeatable, and provable.  Attaching facts to a purely subjective experience can only sullen their beauty.  

dave

Syntax and intactaudio. There are a few other factors involve that help to explain these interactions. Your views are forgetting to take these factors into account. All this is explained nicely here  http://www.hagtech.com/loading.html. Depending on the inductive and capacitive loads there may be an advantage in higher load/damping which means lower resistance. This is shown very nicely at this site. There are certainly instances where running a low resistance (high damping) will roll off the frequency response prematurely but too high a resistance (low damping) can create huge high frequency resonance peaks that will overload a phono amp. Just running any MC cartridge at 47K is asking for it.  

Another issue. Brighter and louder are frequently mistaken as better sound. All this has been exhaustively demonstrated. If I boost volume on an identical source 1 db. People will mistakenly think it has better sound. Same for high frequencies. If I boost them a few db people will think it sounds better. People who are use to listening to a system that has the high end jacked will think a more naturally balanced system sounds dull and lifeless. Very few of us know exactly what our systems are doing. They have not run an impulse test and graphed it out. Even fewer of us have the ability to modify the frequency response of our systems in a controlled fashion to know what any given frequency response change maneuver will result in. This results in a classic case of the blind leading the blind. It's fine to have preferences but saying they are more right than someone else's preferences is inappropriate and quite possibly dead wrong.  

Dear @mijostyn : Almost always 100 ohms works really good even with phono stages with a low headroom ( but today designs comes with high headroom, no problem at all. ) PM is rigth and exist two " problems " as PM said at 100 ohms is not really dull but the sound sounds what is in the recording adding the less. That " open " sound reported for gentlemans loading at 47K like that kind of sprk and openess that are only added distortions for that cartridge loading value.

I always supported that kind of statement for many many years ( posted several times in this forum and with out know anything of PM comments. ). intactaudio is rigth about : ""   to compensate for deficiencies elsewhere in the system."""

The other issue is a bad phono stage design or a " terrible " TT/cartridge/tonearm set up or selection in between with wrong matchs.

@intactaudio  of course syntax's sytem is in trouble and that trouble comes from the phono stage design.

Btw, this is what we can read in the loading link you posted again:

""" 

As mentioned earlier, the peaking is best damped by lowering the load resistance. This is why MC cartridge manufacturers often request loading of about 100 ohms. The next plot shows the 5mH 10 ohm cartridge loaded with 200pF and a variable resistance. Note the 4.7k loading provides very effective damping while maintaining a bandwidth of over 100kHz. Too much damping with the 470 ohm load pulls the response down too quickly. Most MC cartridges have less inductance than this example (chosen to highlight the issue), and so the typical loading value of 100 ohms is usually quite reasonable. """

and something important is that the inverse RIAA eq. was not take in count for the calculations and the site disclosed it.

As syntax said loadin and MC always be an often asking subject because loading function as a " tone control " but the culprit or comes for a bad PH stage design or from each one of us ears and our knowledge levels about how the live MUSIC sounds and of course our preferences on what we like to hear.

Btw, I don't know you or intactaudio but I'm still waiting for the @atmasphere  precise answer/numbers on that high frequency lower cartridge tracking because the loading issue along that stiffen cantilever for it. I'm sure he will comes for.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.