Tube Preamp Paired with Tube Phono Stage?

I believe Jonathan Carr, the designer of the Lyra cartridges, has stated that modern cartridges do not need loading to tame ringing and a response peak because those phenomena occur at ultrasonic frequencies; but, loading may be beneficial with phonostages that are prone to overloading from such peaks. Where overloading is not a problem, he preferred the wide open sound of using very little loading (e.g., 47k ohms).

I don't think Fremer is "full of it." One can quite readily hear the effects of increased loading. Loading acts like a form of tone control--reducing high frequencies. For my taste, with my phonostages, I prefer much less loading than is usually recommended; too much loading (i.e., a lower numeric value for the resistor) causes a significant loss of "air" on top.

The late Allen Wright was also among those reputable designers who advocated "no load", or 47K ohms in other words, for use with LOMC cartridges. I am sometimes astounded to read what some listeners prefer in terms of phono load resistors, often so low in value as to significantly drain off signal voltage to ground, i.e., where the load R is much less than 10X the internal resistance of the cartridge.

So we have support for loading at 100 ohms and 47k ohms, and possibly everything in between. So to summarize, it depends... :-)

Actusreus, if Fremer is not 'full of it', he was hearing those differences due to issues with the **phono section(s)** rather than the cartridges. 47K, 100 ohms, the cartridge does not care. I run my cartridges (Transfiguration Orpheus, ZYX Universe) at 47k with no worries, can't really tell the difference if I use 100 ohms. But our stuff is stable in the presence of Radio Frequency energy, which is in fact what this is about.

Jonathan Carr's comments can be trusted regardless of the LOMC.

You are partially correct with your summary in your last post. The entire summary should read: "So to summarize, it depends on the preamp."

To run a complete tube fronted is no problem, it depends on the quality (as
usual). There are differences.
Cartridge loading discussions were endless, are endless and will be endless...
To make it short, to dampen a cartridge means, you reduce their headroom,
47kΩ is 'open', you can hear the cart purest, the way it was made, when
your System is not up to the task to handle that (and most can't), you can
dampen it down (some say it has to be done based on high frequency
distortions but that is wrong). With one of the better Phono Stages you can hear
it easily when you step down from 47kΩ it always becomes more slow
and dull (but honestly a lot of Systems need that, the wonder word is:
Compensation, with Cables you can do the same)
To design a Phonostage which is silent, not sensitive to hum or other
influences, probably with higher gain (62dB and more) AND finally has to sound
like music and not dead and lifeless (most do) ---> this is VERY difficult to do ,
the Designer really needs knowledge about that chapter. In the last 15 years I
only heard 3 Phonostages which were able to solve that
- Klyne Phono 7
- Atma-Sphere
- J. Curl Vendetta
All the other countless designers will find endless reasons why their units run
best with 100Ω or 125Ω or 165,37Ω or 358.5Ω -:) but at
the end of the day, they can't do it better. It is the way it is.
Marketing can replace knowledge [and does of course and when it is repeated
countless times, it becomes ---> A Fact :-)]
Years ago a lot of cartridge manufacturers wrote in their datas: recommended
loading 47kOhm (Benz for example)....with the result, that the customers
tortured their dealers that their Phonostages were not able to run with
47kΩ (or they sounded simply awful with this setting, Levinson, XONO and
so on), and they didn't buy the cartridge.
No deal is the worst deal for a 'Dealer'
Now we have in the manuals: Recommended loading 100Ω -47kΩ
The problem is solved now.
That's High End :-)