How to deal with a 1.0mV LOMC or is it HOMC

I'm pretty sure you won't be able to use the SUT.  That's just going to be way too much gain and will overload.

Depending on how much gain your MM section, (plus the line stage) has, you might be fine with it.  I have several carts that are at or around the 1.0mv rating.  They work fine straight into my MM phono stages.

It's HOMC (reverse those 2 digits for a low output MC) e.g. 0.11mV or 110 microvolts.

I have an Audio Technica mono MC cartridge, the AT-MONO3/LP. It has 1.2mV output that's drama-free compatible with my MM-only phono stage, so I'd say 1 mV should work too. In my limited experience 0.5mV seems to be the de facto upper limit for LOMCs.

That would be a medium output, which could present some issues with MM phono section. Also, normally MM sections are set to 47K ohms and if your cartridge is in the 100-400 area it may sound overly bright.

As a frame of reference, there is no way I can run my Benz M.9 into a MM section. It does not have enough gain and it sounds like crap because it needs to be loaded at 100 ohms.

As a frame of reference, there is no way I can run my Benz M.9 into a MM section. It does not have enough gain and it sounds like crap because it needs to be loaded at 100 ohms.

That's a really good point. The real issue--if the output is 1.0mV or more--is whether the HOMC is set up for a 47K load or a 100-ohm one. 47K is the standard for MMs and MIs and most HOMCs. 100 ohms is typical for an LOMC. I think *that*'s the critical difference with a 1.0 to 1.7mV output HOMC.

Update !!! Cartridge arrived earlier in the week and I installed it through the SUT at 1:14 (23bB gain). Apart from having to reduce the volume knob from my usual level of -28dB to a lower level of -40dB, it all sounded great. I also checked with my amplifier manufacturer "Copland" and they confirmed it would be OK for the phono stage to see an 11mV load as they designed the amp with plenty of headroom.

Based on this set up the cart is seeing a 240 Ohms load impedance from the SUT which is 4x the carts internal impedance of 60 Ohms. In my book this is ideal and provides a very smooth full bodied sound. If I wanted it to sound brighter (which I don’t) I could use a step up of 1:10 which would result in a 470 Ohms load or 7.8x the carts internal impedance.

Out of curiosity I also tried it directly into my MM stage to see what that sounded like. I gotta say there wasn’t that much difference apart from the fact I had to crank the volume up to -22dB. I didn’t notice any real difference in treble or bass response.

I decided I will keep using it through the SUT.

Thanks for all the input.

Thanks for the followup.  Glad you got it to work for you.