Denon/Shelter with SME 309 and Ear 834P

That setup should work out fine, as long as you have some reasonable gain in your linestage. Either of those cartridges should work well in your 309, and the 834P has 68db gain for the MC section, which could be enough depending on your linestage. The 834P is loaded for the MC input at 515 ohms, from what I've read, which is a bit too high for either the Shelter or Denon, but probably won't be too bad. They both like to be loaded at about 100 ohms. Have fun.

Thanks Tom. My linestage has 16dB of gain. What are the consequences of the impedence mismatch? From what I've read, I can change the loading on the 834 100 ohms if necessary.

The impedance won't be a real big deal, but if you can change it to 100 ohms, that would be the value you'd want to have it at.

I think with a linestage that has 16db gain, you will have just about perfect performance.

SME 309 is a faulty arm. Although I question if it is important in a context of that 103R but I would suggest (If you’re wiling to stay short) going for SME 3009. Nether 103R not 501 will have any bass with stock a SME and you will need to ad mass to the head. However, I again question if it is all mater in context of the 834P step-up transformer that that screw bass more aggressively then the curent lunatic-president screws this country… Search for the T. Loesch’s guide for 834P modification (~$150) and use a better step-up (good luck to find). Generally the Torthenified 834P with a proper trans should yield even with 103R pretty dissent result and you will be able to show a big middle finger to all of those super-duper self-important phonostages…

Good luck,
Romy the Cat

Romy, Thorsten uses a 309 with his 103.

Just same as usual "Romy the Cat" from VA........ EAR834P phono preamp will have enough gain for Shelter 501/II, you don't need step up.

Shelter both 501/II and 901 works well with SME 309, IV, and V models(I have used them in VPI HW19-MKIV and Michell Gyro/Orbe with Shelter cartridges). If you have more than one cartridge and planning to swap them often, 309 works well due to its removable headshell(also gives azimouth adjustment).

SME arms needs better tonearm cable, their stock cable doesn't sound that good...

Any recommndations on cable upgrades for the 309?
Thanks.

I have used Cardas Golden Cross, Audioquest S-4, Cardas Cross, Van Den Hul, and Discovery phono cables on my SME arms(I have owned 309, IV, and V). I prefer Cardas Golden Cross overall which I kept.
I also have made DIY phono cable using solid silver(pure silver) wire and teflon insulation, terminated with Neutrik RCA plugs and Cardas right angle DIN with great success. Believe me or not, I have this DIY phone cable as reference as now.
Contact me directly via email if you would like the receipe.

Thanks all.

Is Romy always that positive???