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DIY Phono Loading Plugs Question

Are Radio Shack Resistors  appropriate for making loading plugs?  I've been running my cart  at 47k ohms with good results. However, for the fun of it last night,  I tried my 470 ohm plugs and the sound seemed to have more focus. It took the brightness out of Supertramp "Breakfast In America". which is what I was hoping for. Playing other records I noticed a pleasant sound. Don't know if it was better. But don't think it was worse either. That's when I found the Zyx recommended load of >1000. So I am going to make a plug with these resistors. They are 1/2 watt 5% tolerance. What say you? Get better resistors?
artemus_5

Showing 4 responses by chakster

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Buy Vishay Naked Foil resistors from Texas Components on ebay (it is the manufacturer), this is the best audio resistor in the universe for reasonable price, not a snake oil !  

Actually ZYX recommendation is not more than 1000 Ohm, but more than 100 Ohm like any typical MC. You can pretty much ignore it and try whatever value you like!


chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
I also have JLTi phono, so all you need is cheap RCA connectors to solder some cheap resistors and you can make many with different value to try what you like. 

Now you have 100 Ohm and 47 000 Ohm

You need something in between such as 500 Ohm, 1000 Ohm, 3000 Ohm and 10 000 Ohm for example. 

In this case you don't know yet what is the best. Just buy cheap resistors to try different loading. 

You can upgrade the resistors after you will understand what value do you need for your Zyx 
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Yes, mine is not the latest, but just previous (without special power supply). Anyway, i asked joe for a mod. I can go higher than 47 000 Ohm for my MM (mainly 100 000 Ohm). But for MC it is nice to have many optional RCA plugs with different load resistors. If you have 100 ohm and 470 ohm, you must have 47 000 Ohm too (for MM). So you can switch to high gain and use 47 000 Ohm for your MC. We have a club of 47k lovers for MC here.

P.S. Joe is a nice guy to talk to, i wish every manufacturer do the same for their customers.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
@artemus_5 you’re right, your internal resistors are 47 000 Ohm, your parallel RCA plug resistors are lower (100 Ohm and 470 Ohm) for MC.

My modified JLTi has internal resistors of 500k Ohm, so i can use 100k Ohm or 47k Ohm with parallel RCA plug resistors for MM. This is the reason why i have RCA plug 47k resistors (you don't need it). 

You can’t use 100k Ohm, your limit is 47k Ohm when the RCA unplugged. Both values are relevant for MM only or for external SUT.

In your situation you can add 1000 Ohm, 10k Ohm or something like that.


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