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Cartridge Loading.....Part II

I read last night the below noted discussion with great interest.  It's a long post but worth the effort and I found it interesting.

It started me thinking about the amount of loading on my moving coil cartridges.  Years ago I purchased my first MC Cart, a very nice Benz Micro Glider, medium output of 0.5 mV as I recall.  At that time I inquired about loading here on Audiogon.  I was convinced, via discussion, by another member, that 300 Ohms was the magic number, so I thought.

Time moved onward and my second MC Cart is currently a Lyra Delos, again medium output 0.6mV.  Both carts had Boron cantilevers', 6 nines oxygen free copper coils and line contact diamond stylis.  When I set up the Delos I did not change or even consider 'loading' changes.  That was a grand mistake.....

Well, thanks to this specific thread I started to second guess myself . (you can do this when retired and more time is on your hands....)

My take from this recent thread is as follows.  Load at 100 Ohms or at 47K Ohms with a quality MC cartridge.  I opened up my Conrad Johnson EF1 Phono Stage this afternoon.  Found it set at 500 Ohms loading.  100 Ohms is not an available setting.  Damn...All these years I've been running the wrong loading, and on two carts, back to back...  I don't recall why I set the loading at 500 Ohms.  Faulty logic.

I reset the loading to 47K, buttoned things up and called the wife in for a listening session.  Sure as heck both of us noticed the highs were crisper and more 'apparent' than in the recent past.  Not a huge difference, but yes, a difference..  Hard lesson learned!

So, you smarter folks on this site might banter amongst yourselves, but in reality there are those of us, behind the curtains, reading and listening!  I just wish I hadn't wasted all those years listening to the incorrect load setting!

Ending with a sincere thank you very much!!

Lou

 

quincy
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,012 posts
 

A moving coil is generally loaded 10 times it’s impedance. The Hana EL for instance has an impedance of 30 ohms, so 300 would be a good place to start. Hana recommends loading the EL @ 400 ohms or greater. I own it and i run it with a Jensen SUT which incidentally has an impedance of which the cartridge sees of 430 ohms. This particular cartridge sounds wonderful any where between 400 a 475 ohms. Lower (numerically) impedance loading will result in an accentuated bass response and the cartridge will sound closed in. Higher loading will result in a brighter sound but also more open. My Rothwell mcx SUT will provide a fixed load of 100 ohms, ideal for many a moving coil, such as my Goldring Eroica LX, which the manufacturer recommends it be loaded at 100 ohms.

I do not subscribe to loading a moving coil at 47k, I reserve that for my many moving magnets.

What is neat about my pro-ject tube box DS2 is that I am able to dial up any impedance loading so desired on the fly from 0 to 1000 ohms. 

solypsa's avatar
solypsa
462 posts
 

As Ralph ( @atmasphere )has pointed out many times loading is for the cartridge preamp system as a whole, more for the preamp than the cart. So every combo has its sweet spot.

armstrod
602 posts
 

Now that I have better designed phono preamps, most of my MC cartridges sound better at 47K loading. There are a couple, especially my Denon 103R that sound better with lower loading, but I like the 103R at 1.6K rather than 100 or 400 ohms.

Since changing loading can't hurt the cartridge or the rest of my system, I'm happy to experiment with all the different settings, regardless of what's considered correct.

FWIW, I like some of my MM carts at 68K rather than 47K. I wish I had 100K to try easily.

Bottom line, I trust my ears.

Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
12,841 posts
 

Dear @quincy  : " My take from this recent thread is as follows.  Load at 100 Ohms or at 47K Ohms with a quality MC cartridge. "

 

No, it's not that way. Your phono stage has several load choices from 200 ohms to 47k and what you have to do with both cartridges as the Delos is to test the quality performance in your system starting at 200 ohms and then change to the other choices till you decide which load is the one that fulfill what you like the more.

 

This is the Lyra J.Carr cartridge designer Delos load advice:

 

" Recommended load directly into MC phono input: 97.6ohm ~ 806ohm. )

 

Btw, " all those years listening to the incorrect load setting.. "  :

no, was not incorrect according with Lyra 500 ohms is inside a " correct " load impedance range Lyra advise.

 

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.

 

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