Grado Statement cartridges - load at 47km or lower

You do understand it is not a moving coil?

Wendell

Yes. Lots of normal MC inputs do not have 47K loading including mine, hence the question.

Dear Downunder: The manufacturer specs state 47K so IMHO this is the " right " impedance load for the Statement Grado cartridge series.

You need the right phono stage. Where are you running the ADC?

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

I have a Statement Reference 0.5 mV driving an Accuphase phono stage. The MC input (60db or 65db) gain setting opions can only load at 100 ohms or 500 ohms.
Only the MM input loads at 47K, but obviously does not have adequate voltage gain. I consulted Grado by phone: they advised that this variable reluctance design is not load sensitive and works fine driving low impedance phono stages. This "load insensitive" characteristic might be due to the shorter winding length of the low output design, although apparently the high output model behaves similarly so that's probably an incorrect assumption on my part.
Listening tests switching between 100 or 500 ohms: I preferred the 100 setting, although the differences were nearly indiscernable. If I recall (it's been awhile) the HF seemed a little smoother at 100. So no it does not seem to be an issue at all, rather academic at best.
I was thinking someday I might try replacing the low impedance input terminations onboard with 47K's just to try it, but I'm quite satisfied as-is so that might never happen anyway.

thanks Bob, that's what I was looking to hear. You can use your MC phono stage and use lower than 47k.

Raul, running the ADC into MM stage at 47k. Sounds great, abeit different to MC sound. however been off sick for the last week so not listening to music.
I'll send out a report later - Also got the Ortofon MM we spoke about waiting as well and a Miyajima Shilabe I'll try to listen to this week.

cheers

Dear Dowunder: Iask on de the ADC because I can see that you can run the Grado at 47K too.

My best wishes for your health.

Regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Raul, The MM stage would not have enough gain for the 0.5mv Grado.

I don't have one, just wondering if I can use my MC stage if I did get one.

cheers

In my system, 47k was a bit tippy in the treble for my Grado Statement 1. I was using it with a VPI Aries 3. Matt advised that they also used this cartridge in house and liked it at 500 ohms. I tried that and was very happy with the sound. The gain was set to 60db. 

The Statement has a low inductance not unlike a low output moving coil.

As a result the same rules apply:

If your phono section is unstable you may prefer lower loading settings such as 100 or 500 ohms. But an ideal situation would be 47K; this will allow the stylus to trace the groove with greater ease.

The lower impedance loading is not a requirement of the cartridge; its a requirement of unstable phono sections. The inductance of the cartridge and the capacitance of the phono cable form a resonant circuit which thus injects ultrasonic or RF noise into the preamp. If the preamp is unstable, the noise will cause it to sound wrong (usually bright). The loading resistor detunes the resonant circuit and gets rid of that problem, but forces the cartridge to do a lot more work driving that resistor, which makes the cantilever stiffer.

In addition, if the phono stage is unstable, it will tend to exacerbate ticks and pops, making the LP surfaces generally seem noisier than they really are.

Grado own PH-1 phono preamp is 47k Ohm with low and high gain switch. Made by Grado Labs for all Grado cartridges. 

I am running into the same thing here. I have a grato statement MM cartridge. 0.5mv output. I am planning on changing the MC input loading resistor, 1k, on my Yamaha c-80 to 47k. Does anyone see any issues with this?? I should get the right cartridge loading then and get the extra gain using the MC Head amp. I hope.