Cartridge Loading.....Part II

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. 

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.

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.

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.

I'm not an experienced pro, nor a technical engineer:  the instructions on my MC just recommend about 10x cartridge impedance, and, as @rauliruegas indicates, the instructions on my Lyra cartridge recommends anything between 100 to 1000 ohms.  

The phono stage (Manley Steelhead) recommends just listening to the cartridge at various loads, and pick what sounds best.  

I don't know what implications there would be with a SUT.  

I suppose this is all variable, depending on the capabilities of the phono stage, as Ralph @atmasphere seemingly explained in the previous thread.  

Best wishes to everyone, and I hope everyone is enjoying their music.