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
Al
That also makes sense as that is not my genre and even with good older rock recordings there is generally a higher level of inbuilt compression and not the vast dynamic range and swings of a full blown symphony.

And just looking at numbers the difference between -10 and +5 is quite something on its own.
Not what one would expect from a true 69.5db gain at the phono.
An unusual phono in that it caters for MC only with no options of gain having a fixed 69.5 db and that’s it.
7 tubes total, I would not think one of those would be cause of lack of gain.
Another piece of information that might help would be what was used prior to the Canary acquisition?
Another Phonostage or using the c100 phono input?
And how was it prior to the Canary in the system with the same carts?
I have no lack of horsepower.  I am passively biamping B&W N801s with an MC2000 and MC1000s.
Thank you for the conversion, Al.  I have wondered what the db gain is.  Actually, I am using my 0.2mv cartridge with the preamp phono stage with good results, slightly more apparent volume than the 0.3mv cartridge and the Canary.  Which kinda supports my position regarding how much gain I might want.
Uberwaltz--I have owned these units since new (whew) and the volume characteristics I have described have been consistent, and I have never considered them to be out of the norm.  The stereo is capable of live seeming volume levels in any genre and can be overwhelming when desired.

Bill
I can't imagine why you have volume trouble with 70dB gain.  Should be plenty.  Listening with volume control up past 12:00 is also desireable, as this is the lowest distortion region.

Hiss?  Well, that could just be the phonostage.  Other ones may be quieter.  Or you could use something like a Piccolo2 on the front-end to put things back together.