Even though ChatGPT does not own a system, it can summarize what everyone else said about cartridges I have never owned or played in my system. Yes, I have heard them at a consumer show using unfamiliar equipment and speakers at double the price of my stuff, so how much of that sound is the cartridge? It also can tell you how compatible they are with my tonearm and phono preamp.
Impedance Loading for SS Hyperion
"470 - 1000Ω" says Peter Ledermann. My phono stage offers 400. 800, 1,200. so I used 400 initially (extremely smooth), decided 800 was better (some edge present) and 1.2k even better still. There is one higher setting allowed for the MC input (along with several lower ones), 47k. So I’m trying it, and I like it. I keep swapping to the London Reference I am comparing the Hyperion to, and it seems the higher the impedance loading, the closer they sound. I am not experiencing the "peaked high end" I was warned of if loading is increased over 1000Ω.
Maybe my half a remaining ear (thanks, streptomycin!) simply can’t hear the cartridge screeching. Might work for others with high frequency loss? I think the issue is that I have a powered sub that is making sure I hear some bass whatever the loading is set to. If I turn it off the Quad 2905 speakers alone don't sound as if I'm listening to the full range of sound. Perhaps I should set the loading without the sub, and then do my usual procedure of setting the sub volume so I cannot tell that it is switched on, but all the same things sound better?
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@dogberry It does not matter what the manufacturer suggests for loading of any LOMC cartridge, of which the SS Hyperion is an example (no matter what anyone says...). Any brightness is usually not the fault of the cartridge so loading will not fix it. IOW If loading does fix the brightness, the cartridge wasn't the problem. The phono section is. This is because any LOMC cartridge generates RFI due to the cartridge's very low inductance, in parallel with the tonearm cable capacitance. That sets up an RF peak (usually 1-5MHz) which can oscillate, generating RFI up to 30dB higher than the cartridge signal level, injected directly into the phono section input! If the phono section does not like that, it might distort, which will be interpreted by the ear as brightness. The loading resistor detunes that RF peak I mentioned, thus killing the RFI and the brightness. But the cartridge itself was unaffected. This is very easy to measure and demonstrate. What this says is that when the manufacturer of the cartridge suggests a 'loading' value, then there's a good change the phono section he's using has this problem of RFI sensitivity; IOW its designer ignored the implications of putting an inductor in parallel with a capacitance (electronics 101, 1st week). If on the other hand the phono section is immune to the RFI thus present at its input, its plug and play- no messing with 'loading' resistors- you'll find they have no effect. |
Whilst I agree with your statement, both the Decca and Soundsmith are MI, not MC. Therefore loading changes affect the frequency response ( and phase ) to a far larger degree than a LOMC, and as far as I know the frequency changes with MI from both resistive and capacitive occur within the audible range. Is that not correct ? |
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