Can you run the HANA SL MC at 100 ohms?

I've owned the Hana EL and currently own the SL. They have the same internal impedance (30 ohms) and a similar sound, but the SL is more resolving in the mids and highs. I load the SL with a Bob's Devices transformer that feeds a Line Magnetic tube phono preamp. I have two of the Bob's: with the Sky 20 and Sky 30 Cinemag transformers, so I can load at 10, 15, 20, and 30 to 1. Respectively, that's 470, 209, 118, and 52 ohms loading. In my system, there is a benefit to "loading down" the cartridge that goes beyond keeping RF away from the preamp (as atmosphere mentioned). There is a presence, a focus, a palpability, that comes with lower loading, that makes the sound more "real" in my system, and which has been written about by many, including the late great Art Dudley (RIP). But loading it down too much can also create a closed-in sound that loses some sparkle. So there's a trade-off (like almost everything in life). For the Hana SL, I most often load it with the 15:1 transformer, which is 209 ohms, which gives me the best in terms of openness and palpability. It sounds amazing in my system; better than the Denon 103R, Dynavector 10X5, and Dynavector 23R that I also own.

winefix

I have the Hana SL & ClearAudio Emotion, after reading your post (and others) I just changed resistance from 470 to 1k in my Moon 310LP. BIG difference, 1k is SO much better, 470 was as you said muddy, main vocals were not focused. SO glad I made the change. :)

Manufacture recommends >400 ohms for Hana SL, but 470 wasn’t enough for me. I should have tried both when I bought it...

Now try 47K, if your phono stage permits it.

It does. Without a SUT or anything?  Is that a Hana thing?

but the phonostage that needs loading down. Dave Wilson and Tom Evans (the Groove) believe in loading cartridges down.

If you understand that its the phono section that's reacting to the resonance of the cartridge and tonearm cable, you're far more likely to design a preamp that is resistant to the RFI generated by that resonance.


If you don't believe that its the resonance causing this issue, go get yourself a square wave generator and (with a suitable low level so you don't deGauss the cartridge) run it thru any moving coil cartridge you want and look at what happens to the square wave on an oscilloscope after its passed thru the cartridge. Spoiler alert: its unaffected at audio frequencies. So if that is the case, how in the hell can loading be affecting the cartridge frequency response at audio frequencies??

The simple and correct answer (Occam's Razor, for anyone whose gotten this far) is that it isn't.


The reason you hear tonality changes is simply because the designer of your phono section didn't take into account how powerful the RFI is that comes out of a LOMC setup (hint: it can be up to 30dB higher than the cartridge signal). So the phono section reacts- with brightness usually; loading the cartridge knocks out the resonance and thus tones things down. Its a band-aid approach.


Why do cartridge manufacturers specify a loading? Two reasons:
1) Most phono sections have problems on this account. Plus the manufacturer has no idea what tonearm cable you'll be using (so the capacitance in parallel with the inductance of the cartridge is an unknown; most use 100pf as a general rule of thumb). So they specify some safe resistance value to use that won't mess things up too bad.
2) Some cartridge manufacturers are just as in the dark on this topic as many phono preamp designers are.


All I can say is look at the math folks. If you have to use loading you're dealing with a compromise.