How to pick a COMPATIBLE phono cartridge


As follow-up to my recent post titled "Da Benz", I'm trying to better educate myself on how to pick a phono cartridge. There are many to choose from but I don't know which "type(s)" (i.e., output, etc.) will work well with my setup. Not considering price or characteristics at this point, but simply compatibility . Once I know that I can research options to make a selection. Looking through some past forums I see this can get complicated, so I'll provide some info on my setup:

Conrad Johnson EF-1 Phono Stage
    Gain: 40, 46, 52 db
    Phono Overload: 70 mV (40 db gain setting)
    Hum and Noise: 88 db below 10mV input

Conrad Johnson Premier 16LS Pre Amp
    Gain: 25 db
    Maximum input: 15 vrms
    Output impedance: under 700 ohms
    Hum and noise: 96 db below 1.0 mV

Conrad Johnson Premier 12 mono block Amps
    140 watts per channel
    Input Sensitivity: 0.90 volts to full power
    Input Impedance: 100k ohms

SME IV Arm
    Cartridge weight range: 5 - 16 grams
    Weight: 700 grams

And my leading cartridge candidate is the Benz Micro Wood (available in low, medium, and high versions), specs as follows:
    Output voltage: 0.4 (Low) 0.8 (Medium) 2.5 (High)
    Internal ohms: 12 (Low) 24 (Medium) 90 (High)
    Loading Range: >100 (Low) >1000 (Medium) 47k (High) 
    Weight: 9 grams
    Compliance: 15 (Low) 14 (Medium) 14 (High)
    Tracking 1.6 - 1.9 grams

The high output has been suggested. 

However, what cartridge specs should I be looking at for compatibility sake with my equipment and why? I have no idea!!!!   

Thank you to anyone who's willing to take the time to read and respond to a posting like this! :-)

Randy


rbschauman

Showing 1 response by robd2

Great thread and info guys. Al could you expand on this item a little further with another example or two? Maybe a good and bad senario?

"4)The relation between cartridge output and phono stage signal-to-noise ratio is what primarily determines the amount of hiss that will be present when playing a record. Adding gain further downstream will not improve that; it will just result in using the volume control at lower settings."