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Match the phono-pre to cart., or arm?

Hello all:

I am narrowing my search for a phono pre-amp, and have a question for those who are more knowledgeable (not hard, if you know anything, you know more than me). Currently, I have a Rega P-25 with the stock arm (I added VTA & Heavyweight to the RB 600) and a Dynavector 17-D Karat cartridge.

Does it make sense to match either the arm or the cartridge supplier? Both Rega and Dynavector have phono pre's.

Thank's in advance, Dave.
consttraveler
jfrech's avatar
jfrech
1,816 posts
 
I'd say the more critical match on phone pre is to the cart, not the arm. This is a pure guess on my part but seems to make sense being those 2 need to electrically interface, the arm is never hooked up to the phono stage...

The cartrige does however have to like the arm it's on...
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,284 posts
 
The cartridge must be compatible with the tonearm in regards to compliance and resonant points, but the cartridge must also be correctly loaded by the phono preamp. Surprisingly, there is no compelling reason to have the same manufacturer for the the cartridge and the phono preamp. Do a search of the Stereophile website, they have a series of excellent articles on how these goals are accomplished.
twl
3,251 posts
 
The brand is not that important, just the sound quality and the match. You have a nice cartridge that is low output moving-coil. It has .23mv output, which is low. You will need about 60-70db of gain for it. Few tube units will have anywhere near 70db of gain, so you may have to use a step-up device, or use a SS phono section. Benz-Lukaschek makes a good one called the PP-1.
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