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Grado 10K Ohm Loading?

I've read some people have had great success using 10K Ohm loading on their Grado (standard HO-MM) carts as opposed to the standard 47K. Is there any validity to this? I have a variable resistance MM phono pre in my old Yamaha integrated but the lowest it will do is 30K. Would 30K be a good compromise? This phono section has three available loading choices, 30k, 50k, and 100k. I could probably swap out some resistors and play around with different loading values if I wanted. Do I stand to gain anything by trying this?
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rauliruegas
13,046 posts
 
Dear Hyperreal: I never try any of my MM cartridges ( including Grado one ) at 10K Ohms but I run everyone at 100K Ohms with splendid quality performance.

You can try at those three settings that has your phono section and then decide which is best for you and if seems to you that is worth to try 10K Ohms.

Regards adn enjoy the music.
Raul.
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atmasphere
11,784 posts
 
In the past (before the wood body Grados appeared) we ran the loading on the Grados at anywhere from 7K to 10K with excellent results. I can't speak for the current lineup, but on the lower priced models I would not be surprised in the least to find that 10K is still a good value.

At the very least I would set the Yamaha to 30K. A little should be better than nothing, although our experience was that you really didn't start hearing anything until you got below 20K or so.
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