Ayre Phono P5xe settings low / Med / High ?

5mV is about the upper limit for voltage output of a "modern" phono cartridge. Certainly you should use the "low gain" settings in your p5Xe. Be sure also, if you are inexperienced, that the cartridge resistive loading is set for 47K (which I believe to be the max value of load resistance available at the p5Xe input).

Sarcher, In principle you are correct, but this cartridge ought easily to drive the Ayre to full output, even at its low gain setting. (I have owned one, and I used it with MM and MI cartridges in balanced mode.) Thus, there is little to be "gained", except more unnecessary gain, by using the higher gain settings (sorry for the terrible pun). There is a possible downside to using the higher gain settings in the Ayre; the Ayre itself might be overloaded by the output of such a high output cartridge at those settings. By the way, Rapogee, I strongly recommend you run the cartridge in balanced mode into the Ayre for optimum results. In other words, have your phono cables terminated with XLRs, or, better yet, switch to balanced XLR cables that have equal quality conductors for both phases of the signal. The cartridge itself is inherently a balanced device, and it will take care of the rest. That way, you will get the best that the Ayre has to offer, which is considerable.