Will our MC for the festivities gain the stage?

Marty, I tried using the Shelter at 100 ohms, which is about the best load I found for it. It just didn't have enough "oomph" with my MFA preamp(66db total gain). The Shelter doesn't do as well when it is unloaded, in my opinion anyway.

I am hoping that David can get enough gain to get the right result with the 100 ohm loading that seems to work best with the Shelter. He is primarily talking about the Shelter cartridges in this question. I know, because we have talked off the forum about this.

Yes, Marty, I had had been in e-mail discussions with Tom with respect to the Shelter pickups, among others. I posted here because I thought others may have the same general issues.

I had come to some conclusions, based on faulty info I had received stating that the gain for the MC phono section in my Eclipse was 70dB. I have since found out from Kora that the actual rating is 55dB. As such, the suitability of the Shelter came into question. I had not figured on the "additive" effect of the line stage gain and have a message in to Kora to determine this specification (the manual only provides line input S/N of 112 dB).

If the gain of the line stage is in the 20dB range, added to the 55dB of the MC phono stage, I am assuming that things should be hunky-dory, given the .4mv/100ohm specs of the MC phonostage in conjunction with the attributes of the Shelter.

Does ANYONE have any thoughts as to whether the general guidelines for gain posted above have any relevance?

4yanx, I think the table you were given is an acceptable minimum for those who strive for lowest noise in the phono stage. I myself would want even more gain if the noise floor of the phono gain circuit was up to it. Matching gain, impedance and noise is very important early in the signal path. Small imperfections in the source end are amplified and add up to big imperfections in sound. Please correct me if I am wrong but I reckon it make better engineering sense to use a low noise high gain phono stage designed to add little noise of its own and that of the MC cartridge (thermal noise) than relying on a high gain line stage which would amplify the noise of a low gain phono stage. Thus I prefer less gain (<20db) in the line stage of a preamp. With (SA)CD players and tuners easily putting out 2+ volts, more than 8 db in the line stage just isn't necessary to drive most amps. Perhaps an adjustable gain setting in the line stage is a sensible option.

One might also consider the system as a whole when trying to determine "sufficient gain." Obviously, the cartridge output, phono gain and pre-amp gain are important. Remember, your amplifier input sensitivity & gain, and speaker sensitivity will also play a role in what is perceived as sufficient source gain in terms of spl. Also, keep in mind that most volume controls (trimpots) will sound better when used in their upper regions as you are removing more of their conductive material from the direct signal path. Enjoy.