How do you tame a Denon DL-S1?

I love the comments. Thanks for the suggestions. To keep you up-to-date I have been tube rolling with my Dodd phono preamp. I put Amperex Oranges in the first stage and JJ’s for the output drivers. The sound is incredible. It reminds me (in a VERY small way ) of the wonderful ARC Reference 2 phonostage with the Lyra Olympos cartridge that I heard in the Vandersteen room at the RMAF. The ARC Ref 2 is out of my price range, but would the previously mentioned phonostages sound in the ballpark like the Dodd does?

This discovery thrills me as it tells me that I am on the right track. I can live happily with the Dodd for a while but I am still looking for a more permanent solution. The Dodd is not really a LOMC preamp.

Bob

I tried a Bob's SUT with mine and did not like the strident high-end that resulted. I ended up biting the bullet and going with a Pass Labs Xono. I run it at 100 ohms and it sounds wonderful if perhaps just a tad on the bright side. As others have said this cart extracts micro- details with ease and just sounds effortless.

I have used a modified Jasmine LP 2.0 SE with the Denon DL-S1 and achieved very satisfying results.

I have a fosgate phono preamp. Would that have enough gain (60 db) to use this cartridge?

The DL-S1 is an unusual cart with an extremely low output and a relatively high impedance. J Carr posted previously (on another thread) that this is because it has a
non-permeable core. The stridency or exaggerated overtones can be due to capacitance reacting in the phono stage causing ultra high frequency overload or oscillation. This happened to me and I had to use another phono stage. Your best solution is to select a phono stage based on anothers positive experience. If you have to load it down to or below the value of it's output impedance, you'll (in theory) cut the eff output in half. Whether or not 60dB is enough gain depends on your system. That's impossible to give a simple answer. Some line stages have 20dB gain, a passive has 0 and your phono stage has to drive the amp. Some spks are 83dB, others are 100dB. I think that 60dB would be a minimum, depending.

If you have to load it below 100 ohms you're probably experiencing this high freq overload, at least to some extent. Optimal loads for some users is 400/500 ohms. This doesn't really have anything to do with with the type of device providing the amplification, although some devices might lend themselves more to direct coupling. Phono stages with response in the ultrasonic region should be more susceptible.
Regards,