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Help with OL-Tonearm and Cartridge.

I am in the process of shopping for a tonearm/cartridge and have heard good things about the REGA arms. These get very favorable comments from the user community once origin live performs modifications to the arm.

I have been researching tonearms and found that Origin Live has introduced their own arm. Its called the OL 250 Silver Tonearm and comes it two flavors. I was hoping someone could give me any insight as to what they have heard or experienced about this arm. How do you think this arm compares with the stock REGA arms? How would it compare with the Graham or SME arms?

My goal is to pair an arm up with a MC cartridge. Assuming that my phono stage has a high gain (68dB)output, what output cartridge voltage would be better and why? Would it be better to pair up a higher output MC cartridge, for example 0.8mv, with this gain stage as opposed to going with the really low output cartridges?

Is there really a noticeable difference between MC or MM cartridges in sound?

Thanks

Thanks
tazuser

Showing 2 responses by gboren

gboren
143 posts
 
68 dB gain is very high, even for a MC phono stage. You will have no trouble driving evan a .2mv cartridge. As a matter of fact, you may experience trouble with .8mv since you will have to use the lower part of your volume control, which is usually not as linear as the middle of volume control.

Also, in general, all other things being equal, lower is better because it has a lighter coil and therefore has a lighter tip mass. If you already have a phono stage with 68dB then go with the lower output (say, <= .4mv).
gboren
143 posts
 
Yes you can put it straight into the amp, which is a great idea if your tt is your only source, or if you don't mind swapping interconnects from time to time.

If you are going to put it into the preamp first, you will want to set the volume control on the EAR all the way up. Of course, set your preamp volume very low and increase it until you find your preferred listening volume. You will want to adjust the phono stage volume downward a bit only if the the 68dB is putting the preamp volume control at preferred listening volume too low, so as to be on a non-linear portion of the volume control. (in such a position, it is more difficult to fine tune your desired listening volume.) The reason you want to put the phono stage as high as possible is that the volume control is really just an attenuator, meaning that the phono stage amplifies the signal by 68dB and then the volume control chops it back down. Since every event of amplification adds noise, and attenuation occurs more at the higher end of the dynamic range, the process of amplify/attenuate/amplify will unnecessarily decrease your signal to noise ratio.

Enjoy the music!
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