Phono preamp with multiple inputs?? Suggestions please!!

Now let’s assume you have a cartridge that only produces 3 mV of signal voltage. The output from the MF phono would be 300mV. If you have an active linestage in the signal path, it is likely to add at least 8-10 db of gain. 10db means a 3-fold further increase in signal voltage. So now the amplifier sees 0.9V, which is more than adequate for most amplifiers.

I just looked it up. The spec sheet say “5mV in gives 500mV out”, which is a voltage gain of 100, which translates to 40db.

The important number is not gain in mV, which only refers to some ideal setup, but phono gain in db. If MM phono gain is 40db or higher, and if the linestage adds 8-10db additional gain, and if the input sensitivity of the amplifier is 1mV or less for full output, then any system that works well with a 5mV cartridge will work just as well with 3mV or even less, depending on the degree to which the above parameters are even slightly exceeded. So for me the question would be what is the gain of the MM phono section in the Musical Fidelity unit.

Suffice to say, for the Nth time, that the signals in each channel due to vertical deflection of the cantilever cancel each other because they’re 180 degrees out of phase, when you bridge a stereo cartridge to play a mono LP. Hence hf surface noise is reduced, not “doubled”. Sorry for hijacking the thread.

Dear Elliot, will you please stop repeating the incorrect information to the effect that noise due to vertical deflection of the cantilever is “doubled”, when one plays a mono LP using a stereo cartridge and the mono mode switch on a phono stage? That is not correct. Such noise is canceled because of phase differences. In fact that’s the major benefit of engaging the mono switch. Thanks.

Manley Steelhead