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Phono stage for 0.2mv cartridge?

  I am looking for a quality phono stage with at least 72db of gain.  During this last year I obtained a Canary MC10 which sounds beautiful but I am somewhat volume limited and listen at such high volume control settings that tube rush has become an issue.  At 69.5db of gain I hoped that the Canary would work out but...
  Most of the popular stages like the Herron and the Manlely Steelhead seem to run in the 66-70db gain range.  Reviewers seem to routinely report on these phono stages using cartridges with low outputs but that runs contrary to my experience so far.  Any suggestions appreciated.

Bill
wbs
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
I do have another concern here.
69.5db of gain should have been more than enough to drive 0.2mv cart unless serious phono to preamp mismatch?
I drove a ZYX at 0.24mv at just 66db gain on my Gold Note PH10.
72db of gain would be more in line for carts with 0.10 to 0.05mv output.
If everything is matched downstream.

So question for the OP.
What preamp and what cartridge and what adjoining cabling?
simao's avatar
simao
1,823 posts
 
Agreed with @uberwaltz. Close to 70db of gain is huge for .2mV.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,841 posts
 
  I am looking for a quality phono stage with at least 72db of gain. During this last year I obtained a Canary MC10 which sounds beautiful but I am somewhat volume limited and listen at such high volume control settings that tube rush has become an issue. At 69.5db of gain I hoped that the Canary would work out but...
@wbs

The difference here is not even 3dB! That quite simply isn't an issue when we are talking about working with a cartridge of 0.2mV. The phono section in our MP-1 preamp has only 66dB and it works fine with 0.2mV.

Something other than gain was afoot in the case above! What was the problem that caused you to seek more gain?
tooblue
1,931 posts
 
FWIW, I have three tube phone stages, an Aural Thrills Audio Serenade rated at 60db of gain, an Allnic HE1500se II rated @ 66db of gain and a Wall Audio Opus 120 rated @ 70db of gain and in the same system with no changes other than the phone stages the system plays louder at the same settings in the opposite order as you would think from the output rating by the manufacturers. No way I can explain that, will leave that for those that can, but there seems to be more at play here than that rating in output db by the builders. Enjoy the music
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
Tooblue.
Now that is most interesting.
I had always assumed the difference was in the downstream equipment the phono interacted with that gave rise to variations in perceived" loudness" for same gain.

Obviously more at play inside the various phonos than just the published gain specs!
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