New to Vinyl. Need help on how to match components, cartridge, etc...

Everyone should of course read Robert Harley’s Complete Guide to High End Audio. That said, keep it simple. Phono stage to pre-amp, unless you’ve made some a very questionable choice in pre-amps then any combination will work just fine. So you can forget about that one. The main thing you need to understand, if you pick a low output MC (arbitrarily defined by me as below 0.3mV) you can expect to have a lot more challenges than if you pick a medium output (again arbitrarily defined by me as above 0.3mV) cartridge.

This is NOT to say buy a cartridge based on output. Its simply a way of winnowing down the field by eliminating the ones that are most likely to pose a challenge.

Limiting yourself to a nice medium output MC (or any MM) will free up virtually all phono stages on the market. You won’t have to worry about gain, or step up transformers, and noise will be much less of a concern too.

Then armed with this one simple rule now you are free to focus on what really matters, sound quality. THAT is the way to match components. NOT to each other but TO YOU!

Yep, as mentioned, unless you go for some esoteric sort of thing, a good MM/MC phono stage will do the trick. Going that route you are fairly unlimited in carts you can choose. Then, install and enjoy!

MV, moving magnet cartridges generally require an input impedance of 47 kOhms and this is where most phono stages start. If the phono stage has a gain in the 40- 50 dB range it is good for moving magnet cartridges only. There are phono stages that have gain in the 58-60 dB area and by changing the input impedance these stages can run lower output moving magnets and higher output moving coils down to 0.4 mV. Phono stages with gain above 60 dB are for moving coil cartridges only and for the lowest output cartridges 0.2 mV and below you would like to have 70 dB of gain. The input impedance of the moving coil phono stage is adjusted depending on the internal impedance of the cartridge. The rule of thumb is you want the input impedance to be 10 times or above the internal impedance of the cartridge. Some phono stages have separate inputs for MM and MC cartridges with appropriate spec. Some are so adjustable you can configure any input for any cartridges. These tend to be very expensive units but if you like rolling cartridges, why not!  

I forgot to mention. For me the single most important spec is tracking ability. The lowest I will go is 80 um. After that it is by manufacturer, the ones I know build a quality product and back up their work such as Ortofon, Clearaudio, Lyra, and Grado. I tend to avoid Cottage industry makers especially if they are foreign. Some importers may not be trustworthy and they are responsible for backing up warranties. Super low compliance cartridges do not make sense to me. They require heavier  tonearms with much higher moments of inertia. They do not follow record irregularities well leading to increased distortion and record wear. Shorter lighter arms with higher compliance cartridges is the way to go. I do not think tracking angle errors are as important sonically. 

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Thank you, all.  Much food for thought and your comments are very helpful.  

@millercarbon  I have Bryston 7B3 amps which have a very low input impedance (7.5k unbalanced / 5k balanced) so I stuck with a Bryston Premp which has an output impedance of 72 ohms.  This is my concern. 

This is all irrelevant when you're using MM or MI cartridge.
Start with MM or MI and you are fine with every MM phono stage!

Don't buy an MC if you don't understand anything about gain, impedance, compliance etc 

@chakster  I would like to stick with a MC, hence my seeking of guidance as I am definitely still learning.  Attempting to do my due diligence prior to making my purchase decisions on both a cartridge and a phono preamp.  

I should have referenced the B26 Preamps input impedance rather than the output.  The input impedance balanced is only 10k ohms per leg. This what is giving me concern in regard to matching up an appropriate  phono preamp.  

@millercarbon I have Bryston 7B3 amps which have a very low input impedance (7.5k unbalanced / 5k balanced) so I stuck with a Bryston Premp which has an output impedance of 72 ohms. This is my concern.

Yes well there you go. So you know first hand just how limiting one choice can be. Its very easy if you're not careful to wind up with a system so precariously matched that changing one thing means messing everything else up- and so that in itself becomes a huge obstacle to improvement. 

yeah, MC cartridge and MC phono stage matching is another story.