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best choice cartridge for my Lamm LP 2

I have changed my amp to a fully balanced amp and when trying an active balanced linestage last week realized that my Ruby 3 did not quite have enough gain in order to make things come alive in the system. My line stage will not be the one in question, but I probably am looking at needing a better matching cartridge with the LP2. Any suggestions for a good MC for Lamms 57 db, 40 ohm load MC settings. I heard that dynavectors $ 4200 offering may at times have more than their standard .3mv. I am open minded to any suggestions
fjn04
cmk
397 posts
 
I reckon you will need at least 0.5mv. You could consider the Jan Allaerts MC1B or the MC1 Mk II.
fjn04 OP
1,561 posts
 
Thanks for the suggestion. Just did a little reasearch,hope this may help as I am not the best technical person. The BAT linestage I tried has a 100K ohms input impedance and a 200 ohm output impedance. I may be trying an ARC linestage w/ a 120K ohms input impedance and a 600 ohm output impedance. May I get more gain with the Lamm LP2 deluxe in to the ARC than I did with the BAT ?
Associated components: Quicksilver V4 balanced version, Vandersteen 5a
cmk
397 posts
 
To answer that question, I don't think its so much the impedence characteristics of the preamps, but rather how much gain (in db) either preamp delivers, which is a question of the preamp's design, number of gain stages, etc...

You might want to contact Lamm (Vladimir?) and ask them to recommend some possible carts.
gregm
3,415 posts
 
It's very easy to match the phono input to the cartridge.

You really should choose a cartridge you like & can afford -- NOT one that seems to be happy with yr phono's standard input impedance settings.
Phonos are tools; accordingly, you match the screwdriver to the screw -- not the other way round... Cheers
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
I agree with Cmk, and I've always wondered what sort of cartridge the LP2 was designed for.

57db of gain is appropriate for cartridges of at least.5mv output, a bit higher would be better.

OTOH, 40 ohms input impedance is optimal for cartridges with coil resistances somewhere around 1.6 ohms. A coil resistances that low would typically imply extremely low output, like .1mv or less.

No cartridge I know of with a coil impedance below 2 ohms produces anything close to .5mv output. If there is such a cartridge it is very unusual, and LP2 users would be fairly locked into it.

Frankly, the LP2's gain and impedance specifications just don't belong together in the same phono circuit, and raising either one is not something many users could do.

Asking Vladimir is certainly a good idea, but friends of mine who've asked him did not get very useful answers. That eventually led them to different phono stages, ones designed for cartridges that actually exist. :-(
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