@atmasphere is correct, at least from my experience. I went from a fairly cheap but well regarded built in phono stage to the Herron VTPH-2A. With the built in, I was getting what I thought was surface noise. As I upgraded my system, I went to the Herron. Now, Keith recommends running the MC input with no loading, though he does supply loading resistors.
With a Supex SDX-1100r with an output of .2mv and internal resistance of 1.5ohms, it only sounded good on my previous preamp when using an SUT, also a Supex. It was pretty noisy (again, I thought it was surface noise) running it straight into the phono inputs with max gain and 1kohm loading.
Running it on the Herron, I initially started with 1k loading, and tried various different loadings. Then I decided to run it unloaded, and wow, no "surface noise" to speak of, and the output seemed a bit higher. The cartridge also opened up to a large degree. My SUT now sits on the shelf unused.
Though what Ralph says is completely counterintuitive, he speaks the truth.
With a Supex SDX-1100r with an output of .2mv and internal resistance of 1.5ohms, it only sounded good on my previous preamp when using an SUT, also a Supex. It was pretty noisy (again, I thought it was surface noise) running it straight into the phono inputs with max gain and 1kohm loading.
Running it on the Herron, I initially started with 1k loading, and tried various different loadings. Then I decided to run it unloaded, and wow, no "surface noise" to speak of, and the output seemed a bit higher. The cartridge also opened up to a large degree. My SUT now sits on the shelf unused.
Though what Ralph says is completely counterintuitive, he speaks the truth.