MC loading at 47K


Hi All,

Just after some expert advice from your good selves if I may. My current system is as follows:

Musical Fidelity KW550 intergrated amp which has a MM and MC section, both loaded at 47K. The only difference between them is the step up voltage.

My turntable is the Rega P9 with Ortofon Kontrapunkt A.

Looking at changing my cartridge but honestly cant decide between MM or MC.

My music taste are as follows:

Reggae
Soul
Female Vocal
RNB

No classical or jazz.

So what should I choose based I'm only limited to a 47K loading. I was thinking either of the below:

1. Ortofon Jubilee (MC)
2. Ortofon 2M black (MM)
3. Clear Audio Maestro (MM)

Is there a down side to loading up a MC so much?

Thoughts please...thanks
che13
Stops, sounds to me like you have a pretty good understanding of what is going on here. We are indeed talking about a tuned resonant circuit, and how to damp its behavior.
Stops, yes it is a resonant circuit, no news there. There was something in the information from the link you posted that didn't quite sit well with me, but looking back now I can't think of what it was. NOthing earth shattering. I think it was something simple, like pointing out that we are really tuning more for upstream cables and circuits rather than just the generator itself. I know many people (not saying you) get agitated by cart specs that only say ">30 ohms" and not give a specific value. Hopefully, folks understand the why after reading those posts.
I think, there is also some useful information at the website from Stan Klyne (www.klyne.com), he found the solution to do it right.
It is refreshing to hear from sane personnel. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions. I will reiterate a point I made much earlier and that is -I found much greater differences in the sound from the VTA and playing weight than I did from adjusting the load resistance of the cartridge. So I suggest that adjustment be done first using a playing weight in the middle of the spec as per the manufacturer and a tone arm that is level.
Intuitively I would expect a critically damped cartridge to handle complex orchestral pieces better (faster recovery?). I do find that I can hear much more of the individual instruments in a complex passage with an optimum load.
It’s an old thread, but this is exactly what i’m doing now by loading my Miyabi MCA at 47k Ohm (JLTi phono stage) and this is by far the best setting for this (low impedance / low output) MC cartridge.

This is not the only one LOMC cartridge in my collection that just fantastic with 47k loading on my preamps (different preams).

How many people on here prefer 47k for MC ?