While I would agree that low moving mass is a desired quality in a cartridge, it cannot be the whole story. And if low moving mass per se is the major goal, then there are moving iron, induced magnet, and other types that inherently have lower moving mass than any moving coil cartridge. This subject comes up at least once every six months, if not even more often.
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?
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?
- ...
- 19 posts total
- 19 posts total