Need to turn volume all the way up with cartridge

It sounds like you need more gain. That doesn't necessarily mean a 'better' phono stage, just as amplifiers with more power don't necessarily sound better than lower powered amps.

You either need a phono stage with more gain, or you can use the same phono stage and add a Step Up Transformer. Either way, your cartridge will play louder.

My cartridge has a 0.24 mV output, and my phono stage has 66 db of gain, how much gain does your phono stage have? I'll assume you meant that your cartridge has a 0.25 mV output.

Cheers,
John

What John says. You can also stick with your present phono stage and get a cartridge with a higher output, say, one with 2.5 mV.

My appolagies for breaking into this thread. I have the same problem! A phono stage with gain of 60 and a cartridge with 0.5 output. My stage is loaded at 47k which I assumed was for MM cartridges. What do I need in the way of a transformer to correct this. I read Jmcgrogan2's thread but it's a bit over my head. Suggestions please ....

I know whatever John said is (practically) bible when it comes to vinyl.

Contact John at bentaudio and discuss your situation (he makes a very, and I mean very good SUT) for under $1K I believe.

Gain sounds okay, Zenieth, but loading seems off. Did the manufacturer of the cartridge suggest 47k? Try the the KAB website. They have lots of helpful advice and a preamp calculator. Plug in some numbers. The Cartridge Database is a good info source, too. Good luck.