Need help with Sutherland Ph.D. phonoamp

Smokester, The Sutherland unit is very nice. It is interesting to hear what happens when you get away from AC power.

The Green LEDs are basically "Unit Ready" or "Power On" indicators for left and right channels.

The Yellow LED indicates that the unit is going to "power down" if it does not soon detect a signal. I believe it gives you 5 minutes before it "powers down".

The Red LED indicates "Low Battery". It will begin coming on after about 350-400 of battery use, even though this unit can run up to approx. 600-750 hours on one set of batteries.

Your Koetsu black has an output of 0.6mv. Optimum gain setting for that cartridge would be 55db. I believe that the Sutherland also has a 60db setting. Don't be afraid to experiment between the two settings. You'll know immediately which sound you prefer although, 55db will be a better match for your cartridge.

As Steve had mentioned, 100k ohms would more than likely be the best load factor. Again, try the 47k ohm setting also.
You need to keep in mind that the capacitance of your tonearm wiring and phono interconnects will have bearing on these settings. The Sutherland is kind of a pain in the ass as you have to keep the cover removed to make these settings. But, after the settings are made, replace the cover to assist shielding from RFI/EMI.

Happy Listening, Ed.

Steve and Ed,
Thank you for your responses. My settings are 60dB and 1000 ohms. I will try the setting you guys suggest when I get home tonight.
Again, many thanks.
John

Smokester, You may find this interesting. Or, you may find it totally boring. But it may be worth a read. In the least, it is a clear indication of cartridge loading variables. :>)

And, could you let us know of your final settings? Just for a reference. Thanks.

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1077562228&openusid&zzBuscis2&4&5#Buscis2

Best of luck, Ed.

Ed,
No. Indeed I found it interesting and was just what I wanted. I guess I didn't quite do the right search of the archives before I started this new thread.

Course, the famous lack of documentation which "comes" with Koetsu's doen't help.
Many thanks,
John

My post indicated 100 Ohms, as in "one hundred Ohms", not 100k (one hundred thousand) Ohms or even one thoussand Ohms). Anything higher than 100 Ohms for a Koetsu does not load the cartridge sufficiently for good, warm full sound, but instead tends to brighten up the cartridge, often to compensate for too low a vertical tracking angle. The correct way is to use 100 Ohms and adjust the VTA to obtain the best frequency and focus balance. Other Koetsu owners should also contribute to this thread but most will tell you 100 Ohms is the correct load. I have an Urushi and Krell KPE Reference and ran extensive tests to determine that 100 Ohms was best. Also, check Koetsu's website (actually Musical Surroundings):
http://www.musicalsurroundings.com/koetsu.html

There you will see the load range as 5 Ohms to 100 kOhms.