2. analog
  3. 157904-1475

Is there an ideal (ish) cartridge output?

I just got done building the Pearl 2 and I went back and forth with gain and impedance. Using a cart that had .15mv and another at .3mv. I also have a Sony TA-5650 V-FET that has a vfet MM phono stage that I have been curious to try out. In that curiosity, I read the specs on the phono stage and its 70db SNR, which is meh. I then thought about SNR, THD, gain, and output of phono cartridges and stages. I looked at a lot of specs of cartridges and stages over the years, and as the gain of the stage goes up, the SNR goes down, which eventually leads me to this question:

Is the ideal cartridge output 1.5-2mv? Do you then get a medium output that is the best middle ground for SNR and THD? If that could be the case (or if not if you disagree) then why isn't there more cartridges with around that output available? 
enobenetto

Showing 2 responses by enobenetto

enobenetto OP
70 posts
 
I agree. I think that a well-specified phono stage usually solves most of the issues. I think that one can have too much gain as easily, as too little. 

Another aspect that also got me thinking about this, is when you crank the volume on an input of a cd player or DAC when nothing is playing you get silence, but when you do that with a phono stage you will quickly get noise when past a certain threshold when music is not playing. Which got me thinking does anyone have a phono setup where that does not happen?

In a way it's not about what gear can you get to give you the best output, but more over what is the best output to give you the lowest noise without sacrificing performance. Hypothetically, would this be a great combination for low SNR and THD, without sacrificing a designer's voicing of a cartridge or phono stage?

- .8mv phono cartridge
- 52db gain from the phono stage in a balanced configuration
enobenetto OP
70 posts
 
Interesting insights from all. Lewm, has heard this before, so I will search for more of his posts, there could be a lot of info I can find out. The low moving mass part of this discussion I have read about before. I would like to try an air-core cartridge when money permits. It seems that Lyra cartridges have a good compromise of all that has been discussed, maybe that is why they are so popular? Although, the sound is the sound, and if you don't like it, than it doesn't matter how it's made. 
More to discover