Need help with Sutherland Ph.D. phonoamp

100 Ohms at around 50 to 55 dB for the Koetsu. Sorry can't help with the other questions.

My post indicated 100 Ohms, as in "one hundred Ohms", not 100k (one hundred thousand) Ohms or even one thoussand Ohms). Anything higher than 100 Ohms for a Koetsu does not load the cartridge sufficiently for good, warm full sound, but instead tends to brighten up the cartridge, often to compensate for too low a vertical tracking angle. The correct way is to use 100 Ohms and adjust the VTA to obtain the best frequency and focus balance. Other Koetsu owners should also contribute to this thread but most will tell you 100 Ohms is the correct load. I have an Urushi and Krell KPE Reference and ran extensive tests to determine that 100 Ohms was best. Also, check Koetsu's website (actually Musical Surroundings):
http://www.musicalsurroundings.com/koetsu.html

There you will see the load range as 5 Ohms to 100 kOhms.

Also check the thread: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1076019398&read&keyw&zzkoetsu

Smokester what is the table and arm you are using?

Nice table and arm John. As the PHD breaks in and you nail the settings, I (and possible others here) will be interested in your further impressions of this unit. as I mentioned above I will probably go for the Steelhead even though, foolishly, I have no immediate means to evaluate it (haven't identified a local dealer yet) except for Fremer's observations. Enjoy! Steve

Followup: Eva Manley tells me that Music Lover's Audio in Berzerkely here on the east SF bay is a dealer. Will check it out and try to in-home audition and report/review via new thread.