Phono Pre Gain

I'm going to say that 64 dB is probably not enough for a 0.2 mV output cartridge.  I have the ARC Ref 2SE phonostage  w/ 72 db output and when I had the Ortofon Anna (also w 0.2 mV output), it was not loud enough for me.  I could hear the hiss from the phonostage at the higher volumes, which I hated. I have added SUT's to my setup which has lowered the noise floor and no longer hear the hiss from my phonostage at louder volumes. A lot will depend on how loud you like your music.

I would be calling the Sutherland fellow… as I believe that he would likely know.

I always prefer to check the MC portion's signal boost (x factor), that is relative to the resultant impedance 'shown' to the MM stage.

that AT cartridge is 0.2mv signal strength; 12 ohm coil.

guidance for 'resultant impedance shown to MM stage' is coil impedance x 10, in AT case: 120 ohms.

x factor of 20 gives you a 4.0mv signal, very nice.

x factor 20 squared is 400. 47,000 divided by 400 is 118 ohms, nearly spot on to the guidance of 120 ohms.

then the MM stage deals with a 4.0mv signal at 120 ohms.

I don't know how unified phono stages to line level work, just saying, 

x factor 20 is +26db, then MM boost of ____ db = total ____db 

??

If you want to go into detail, with differences in phono stage gain of a few DB, as in this case, the amount of satisfaction of the user is going to be related to the gain characteristics of the downstream components. How much gain does your line stage add? What is the input sensitivity of your amplifier? The input sensitivity is defined as the signal voltage input necessary to drive the amplifier to full output. And finally it depends upon the efficiency of the speakers, obviously. So that is why answers in the range of 60 to 65DB can all be correct, depending on the downstream components. In this case, you have the opinions given, none of which is really wrong.

Oh yeah, too much phono gain, e.g., 66db in this case, is almost never a problem.

I have a PrimaLuna Evo300 amp, Fritz Rev 7 speakers rated at 87db. I typically don't listen too loud as my room is 12x13. From the looks of it I should be fine, I just don't want to be under and regret that I didn't get the ART9XI. I've just read so much good stuff about the XA.