Problem with phono stage

Ummmm...  I am as lazy as the next guy about looking up facts before leaping to criticize or correct someone else, but according to my research (3 internet sources), the Nagaoka MP110 is a MM cartridge (Moving Magnet), as asserted by Atma, not an MI (Moving Iron) type.  Furthermore, Nagaoka do not make or market any MI cartridges in their current line-up, according to at least one website and contrary to Raul's claims.  I would also assert without further research, because I have done the research many times for many cartridges in the past, that the value Atma-sphere used in his example, 500mH, is very typical for the inductance of any MM cartridge.  It can be a bit higher or a bit lower in individual cases, and variation in the value would of course affect the resonant frequency when combined with cable and input capacitance. I think Atma made that very clear in his analysis.  Further, many if not all of the cartridges that Raul lists in his vitriolic response are MI types in fact, not like the Nagaoka.  MI types do indeed tend to have much lower inductance than MM types, as Raul shows us, but that is irrelevant to the OP's issue.  It is unlike Raul to make such a factual error, but there it is.

Dear @lewm : Sorry but you are totally wrong. The only kind of cartridges Nagaoka manufacture are IM design not MM. Here you can open the Nagaoka instruction manual and at the very first two sentences states is a IM not MM ( yes you are to lazy. ):

https://www.vinylengine.com/library/nagaoka/mp-110.shtml

You can confirm as I did it ( several years ago. ) through the Japanese official audio bible that specified IM not MM.
As you your information sources are totally wrong, no matters what. Remember that I not only was a Nagaoka owner but owned the very hard to find top of the line: MP50-Super, way superior to the today 500. Btw, I think that still own the 200 or 300 model, I own to many cartridges and can’t remember exactly about.

In the other side it’s not true that almost all the cartridges I listed about its inductance value are MI/IM because down there are very good know names even if you never own it or don’t have it:

Technics, Audio Technica, Signet, Pickering, Shure, Stanton. In all those models the resonant frequency is way over 20khz. So, what are you talking about?

""  made that very clear in his analysis. """  , could be but useless today. My opinion I respect yours.

lew, I always make my job, at least before you post make yours. Don’t you think?

Btw, those 500mH in the calculator is the default value choosed by Hagerman .

Lew, ceratinly I’m not an expert in any audio subject but in reference to cartridges but LOMC ones I learned through several years all what any audiophile/gentleman could want to learn here:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/who-needs-a-mm-cartridge-type-when-we-have-mc

and I learned from several gentleamns that participated and participates there.

R.

with all due respect to the knowledgeable parties here, one has to see the manufacturer as the last word in facts about the cartridge in question...

https://www.turntableneedles.com/assets/images/productimages/nagaoka_MP_series.pdf

page down half way in this users manual... says right there... IM style, as Raul says - retailers can say MM on their sites as a shorthand/general type (vs. low output MC, which is the key differentiation)

can we go back to helping the OP now? this back and forth is not helping him much...

that MM thread started by Raul was and is a seminal thread for those wanting to learn... not an easy read, as you would expect, but much much info and knowledge in there... for those who really want to master the subject

As I carefully noted, I am going on information obtained from a few internet websites, one of which was LP Gear. As I have learned not to trust LP Gear for accurate information on cartridges they sell, I verified the information on another site. If I am nevertheless incorrect, good for you. I will do some more searching to verify your claim. By the way, the Vinyl Engine page you quote says the output is 5mV, as mentioned by others here on this thread. I will have to sign on to VE in order to view the owners manual, but 5mV is rather high output for any MI in my experience; I suppose it’s possible. Accessing the actual owners manual regarding the transduction method will require me to sign in on VE. I’ll get back to you. I guess the point I was really trying to make by inference is that your insults directed toward Atma-sphere are uncalled for. If you think he (and now I) erred, then just say so. There is just no need for your vitriole.
EDIT. OK, I just found the owners manual.  You are correct.  IM type.  Mea culpa. Nowhere do I find a quote for the actual inductance.  Do you know it?

https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=72159&start=15https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/nagaoka-mp110-cartridge-loading.364498/https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?t=116237
Info at the above sites might help the OP to think about capacitance for the MP110.  In searching, I also found one other site where the cartridge is said to be an MM type, but I tend to agree with the owners manual, per Raul.  However, whether MM or IM, the inductance of this cartridge is quite high, higher even than a typical MM.  In 3 instances I found inductance quoted as 600mH or more than 800mH.  Thus, whether it is an MM or an MI type, it is even more subject to capacitance (and load R) than is the typical MM.  So Atma-sphere's analysis of where the resonant peak might fall and effect the audio band is reasonable and even conservative, regardless of the transduction method.

The actual inductance is not listed on the Nagaoka website. Naturally I looked there first, but since Raul suggested the value first, I used his numbers (600mH) but sensing that was probably too high gave him the benefit of the doubt and went with 500mH. The thing is here that in order to generate 5mV, you're going to have an associated inductance that is going to have to be in that area, generally speaking so its a safe value to assume, and it gave Raul the benefit of the doubt.

Now Raul made some other comments that were so ridiculous that I wondered if they were even worth addressing. But since there are many who might read this that don't have an engineering background, I probably should address at least one:

October 16 of 2020 year and are you talking in a high end analog forum of op-amps? really? when several years ago no one use op-amps in any decent today SS electronics: decent unit design.

This statement is all at once laughable, ridiculous and patently false. To those that don't know, 'opamp' is a reduction of the phrase 'operational amplifier' and refers to a circuit that has exceptional if not nearly infinite gain- so much in fact that in order to operate linearly it has to employ feedback. Feedback is the act of taking a signal at the output of a circuit and sending it back in a reduced form to the input to act as a correction voltage. In this way distortion is reduced. Opamps are commonly available in small plastic packages with 8 pins containing a pair of opamp circuits. They have been in use in audio since the late 1960s and have seen dramatic performance improvements over the succeeding decades and make no mistake, are very much in use in high end audio today in preamps, DACs, tape machines, power amplifiers, tuners and so on. They are used in servo circuits (including servo-controlled subwoofers), power supply regulators and of course as gain blocks in audio circuits. 


With regards to phono sections, there's a kind of phono section made by a variety of companies, Krell, 47 Labs and so on that are current rather than voltage amplifiers; these phono sections (which get nice reviews) absolutely *have* to use opamps in order to work- they are intrinsic in the design and this is no secret. But you can google this stuff easily enough, by googling almost any solid state preamp with a phono section, look for the interior shots (try John Curl's Blowtorch preamp) and the opamps are clearly visible in the photos.


But there is a particular phono preamp with which Raul claims to have some association, one which he claims is the best (its obvious at this point he was not part of the design team) and it too employs opamps! Res ispa loquteur...

Speaking of capacitance, phono cable single ended and balanced, will capacitance of the cable affect the same on either case?

@luisma31   Yes.

Dear @lewm : Nagaoka today ( the OP cartridge. ) does not gives any load capacitance value in its specs.


""" analysis of where the resonant peak might fall and effect the audio band ... "

the true analysis belongs to Hagerman and I don't know before him.

In the MM thread that calculator was showed for the first time in this forum and not for me ( I think. ). Go there and you will find out several posts about capacitance and load impedances other than 47k.

Enough, jjss has reason: we have to help the OP and not post information that increment the mix-up to him.

 Give him a real and true advise other than capacitance issue to help him, just do it.

R.

Btw, no insults per sé, read my post here:

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/problem-with-phono-stage/post?postid=2037860#2037860

and he follows posting the same " tale ". Good that you and mijo support him. As him both of you even worst because are followers.

@lewm  : every body know about the today extremely humble MM Audio Technica AT-95E ( 49.00 ) where its inductance is 400mH that inside the AT load capacitance specs its resonance frequency is over 20khz.

This is my last post about load capacitance.

R.

The MP is Moving Permalloy, not exactly Moving Magnet
Find the difference

Here is J.Carr comment about MP:

"The operating principle would be that of a moving iron but with increased sensitivity, which could be used alternatively to increase output, reduce moving mass, or decrease inductance. "   

Nagaoka makes a pretty good cartridge especially for the money. You buy one, you screw it up into your tonearm, set your phono stage up right and enjoy the tunes. It has nothing to do with stroking one's ego discussing issues that have very little relevance to 90% of us. Moving iron, moving permalloy, moving magnet. They are all capable of sounding perfectly fine and much more alike than not.
The OP wanted to know if he could reduce the noise in his vinyl playback system. Phono stage overload, loading and lower capacitance cables have been mentioned. Does anyone have other ideas for emilm to try? 

Chakster, I guess the "operating principle" of the MP cartridges is not being used to "decrease inductance", per JCarr's summation, because the MP110 has very high inductance according to any info I can find on the internet.  The operating principle seems to be used to increase output, because the output of the MP110 is MM-like, even if it's not an MM cartridge.  So we have an IM cartridge that measures like an MM, both in voltage output and (high) inductance.
Raul, if the MP110 has inductance of ~800mH, as per VE discussion groups, then its resonance can fall well below 20kHz, if capacitance and R are not adjusted to prevent that.  And Mijostyn, if the foregoing is true, then it does help the OP to understand why ticks and pops may seem prominent, and it gives him some idea what to do about it.
To paraphrase Albert Einstein, it's good to keep things simple, but not so simple that a valid hypothesis is ignored.

A quick look at online pictures shows opamps in use in the Black Cube.  Now there are different black cubes so I may not be looking at the right one.

I used mine with Sound Smith Moving Iron and other MM carts.  I had no issues.

As to feedback it can be employed with opamps as well as transistors.  Opamps are easier to set the gain and have good common mode rejection ratios.  Transistors have to be matched.  So in lower costs products, opamps are more likely to be used.

Looking at pics of the Arcam R phono it is also using opamps.

For those that don't know how to spot a opamp look for a black square with 8 legs near the input jacks.  The part number also tends to start with OP.

A slower opamp will also be less noisier, smoother and a bit less detail.

Gain depends on the number of stages but typically expect a gain of 40 to 60 on the first stage.  That gets the signal out of the mud and allows the common mode rejection to come into play to reject noise.

IV phonos also typically use a opamps.  A resistor in series to the signal sets the current which is then gained up by the opamp. 

You can find lots of literature from Texas Instruments.

As to the debate of whether opamps, transistors, or tubes are better that is a a different subject.  There are good and bad examples of each method.

I still would address the record cleaning issue.

That is it for me.  I will leave the navel gazing to others.

Well this escalated quickly, from the last few posts I think of use for the OP Mijostyn summarized

Phono stage overload, loading and lower capacitance cables have been mentioned. Does anyone have other ideas for emilm to try?

I would add if the cable in addition to low capacitance can have some shielding (always low capacitance listed by the manufacture of the cable with the shielding included) if you go DIY shielding results could be unpredictable.

@mijostyn : ""  ego discussing issues that have very little relevance to 90% of us...."""

not was you in your very first post in the thread who asked for and even shouited by your " friend " from you are a follower?

What are you claiming for?

R.

@lewm  : You can't stop your self in the same " boring " subject:

""  MP110 has inductance of ~800mH, as per VE discussion groups.."""

I told you your sources are wrong, I stated that cartridge inductance and is lower than half your figure. Please stop to post the same or at least don't name me any more in this thread in that capacitance issue.

R.

Dear @ejb 14 and friends: From where comes " stupidity ", normally from ignorance/low knowledge levels and skills.

Between 20+ years from today we made our first intent to design and build a phonolinepreamp due that what been in the market were not satisfied not only my LP reproduction demans in quality overall performance levels. My audio items that were my references in those times were units from FM Acoustics, Gryphon, ML Reference and the like.

So we started with a battery powered design with a single layer boards and using op-amps in two different ways.
We used these ones:

https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf-file/919966/NationalSemiconductor/LM607/1   ( in the plastic not metal package )  and this one:

https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/sbos058a/sbos058a.pdf?ts=1602967034703&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww... and the opa 2604 too.

https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf/475618/Burr-Brown/OPA2604/1


passive inverse RIAA eq. using teflon caps and Caddock resistors.

I still have this unit and ( believe or not. ) performs really great with no regrets/compliants about and even today can compete with some good " names " units.



After this successfully intent ( because we had to know first if our design could works and it did it ! ! ) we put on paper the targets for a more definitive phonolinepreamp that not only worked but that could outperforms the best of the best phonolinepreamps in the market and that fulufill all the cartridge needs of any cartridge and from here born the Essential 3150 followed by the 3160 and my today unit 3180.

My first phonolinepreamp targets I still have and were writed in plain paper by hand/pen and is dated: 26-11-96 ! !

several of the original targets can't be ( yet ) achieved and some of them are almost " crazy " and for other gentlemans/designers maybe utopic ones.

Anyway here some of the acomplished targets:

The Essential 3160 is an active high gain/low noise fully discrete design that use bipolar transistors in two gain stages for MC phono stage and FETs for MM phono stage.

In reality this phonolinepreamp have three preamps instead of only one: it has a MC phono stage, it has a MM phono stage and a line level stage preamp. All this three stages are totally independent from each other.
 Each phono stage ( MC and MM. ) is designed for its self precise and specific needs.

Our design is a discrete Non-feedback, direct coupled, pure class A , current mode, true balanced ( differential ) input to output, dual mono design and fully regulated input to output.

The dual mono design only share the chasis but both channels are totally independent from each other even in the dual mono external power supply ( that use too a pure silver Kimber Kable power cord. ) that is so important to the performance on this phonolinepreamp, it has separate attenuator volume control ( that been an attenuator design that when is attenuating the SPL at the same time is lowering/attenuating the noise levels. We work with the input signal 100% SPL, no attenuation at all. ) and separate phono/line switch, impedance changes by solder resistors.

Inside parts: teflon Cu capacitors, " naked " Vishay resistors,matched transistors , hand selected parts, no internal wires ( every part, including input/output RCA/XLR connectors, are soldered directly to the four layers circuit boards. ), etc....., only the best neutral non-sound parts ( no step-up transformers, no head amps, etc.. ) and in the critical stages with tolerances at 0.001%. All parts working at no more of its 50% efficiency. A unit impossible to overload it.

A developed proprietary technique guarantee an accurate RIAA de-emphasis accuracy of +/- 0.011 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz ( Both channels ), resulting in a neutral phono stage that reproduces exactly what the cartridge generates that are in the recording.  

The result is a preamplifier combining the purity and transparency of a passive preamplifier with the speed, dynamics and drive of an active preamplifier ( Truer to the recording. )

To round off the preamplifier's RIAA capabilities, its has a switchable 3.18 us turnover point Neumann pole. ) to compensate for the cutting head preemphasis HF roll-off during the recording.



The op-amps that mentioned that gentleman were used not to amplify the cartridge signal in no single way, this signal is touched only by passive/active discrete parts. The output buffer is a metal encapsulated fully discrete design that looks as an op-amp but certainly it's not.

Due that my ML 20.6 monoblocks use in the signal input gain stages these metal encapsulated fully discrete devices ( that looks too as an op-amp ):

https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/obsolete-data-sheets/MAT02.pdf

https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/MAT03.pdf

we were thinking to use it because it has a first rate design but at the end we decided to make our own fully discrete bipolar discrete high gain design that was and still is a fenomenal challenge for any electronics SS designer/manufacturer..

I know that that low knowledge level ( that was the only reason he asked on those op-amps. I think? ) gentleman would like to know more about our design but this is not possible to him or any one else..

You know we in 1996 was thinking/targetting in a current mode design that today is the fashion. Yes welike what we did it and not because we did it but because is well worth our effort: very high rewards.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

   

Btw, I posted this in other forum regarding phono stages:


"""  I like many phonolinepreamp in the market some of them already mentioned here: FM Acoustics, Gryphon, Spectral, CH, D'angostino, etc, etc. Yes only SS because tubes in this specific function can't do it and I owmned from humble to top design tubes electronics by around 10 years so I'm not speaking of my preferences but audio devices that its technology can in true be nearest to those targets.. This is only an opinion and I think is valid as any of your opinions.

I don't like very much to talk about tubes in phono stages but I will put an example through Aesthetix IO ( I listened the first time at A.Porter house and latter on 3 more times in other systems. ) where they say the unit has active high gain with low noise and yes it has 80db of gain that's a tribute for an all tube design but unfortunatelly failed on noise level that was measured a poor A-weigthed 57db and where the RIAA eq. deviation has ( by manufacturer spec. ) a high 0.5db swing deviation. That frequency response goes even worst because it depends of the control volumen that at different volume position different frequency response. The Lamm ones are not better but only way more expensive.

RIAA eq. frequency deviation levels is critical because in theory must be to mimic in inverse way the recording RIAA eq. to we can have a flat frequency response.
Not an easy task even for SS designs because that eq. is not a " delicated " one but goes from around -20db to +20db, this is a huge equalization with several problems not only about frequency response but phase and other issues.

Here I give you measured SS inverse RIAA eq. deviation frequency charts on very well know top SS active high gain phono stages and then we can understand my words about:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/K...7w4Jt7YB76_gYRhrCrdGU=w819-h524-no?authuser=0


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9...5F42QP3t4NJz6y276pbmI=w819-h582-no?authuser=0


https://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/910Vitfig1.jpg


this last one of the 3 links came from the Vitus top of the line ( 60K+ ). You can look that starting at 500hz and below it the Vitus has a really high 20hz RIAA deviaTION OF -1.5db !! Even that J.Atkinson posted there:


"" This massive, beautifully built, two-box phono preamplifier offers almost unrivaled versatility, excellent channel matching, and almost zero RIAA error, but is not as quiet as I would have wished so expensive a product to be. ""

and more critical than that is what MF reviewed with that unit:


"" Its bass extension, control, and weight were granitic. "" how is that when in the bass range the Vitus is really poor performer ! ? ? ? !

Even JA made a comment about on that review:

"" Unfortunately, while the Vitus MP-P201 Masterpiece is well engineered, there is nothing in its measured performance that would indicate why Michael Fremer was so taken by its sound quality. ""




This next one comes from my room/system active high gain low noise phonolinepreamp:



https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/g...Rcb8d3mjRmnhWYmR9zeio=w819-h557-no?authuser=0     """""



that is the/my unit with " op-amps "  ! ! !  

R.

Ironically, even though Raul hates me, I will admit I own a 3160, and it is indeed superb in its performance.  As a tube aficionado (one reason Raul likes to attack me), I find myself not thinking about whether the 3160 uses tubes or transistors, when I am listening to it. Raul's business partner, Jose', also should be credited for the success of the design and its build.  I suspect Jose' has an EE background. When Raul says "we", he must refer to Jose' and himself.  Funnily, much like a tube preamp, the 3160 to my ears gets better after it has been in use for at least 30 minutes to an hour. It's excellent from the get-go but gets even better when it warms up.  So, Raul, how far off topic do you want to get?
Have you referenced your value for the inductance of the MP110?  I did so in one of my posts above.  If you have not done so, please enlighten me.  I am always grateful to be corrected with correct information.  800mH does indeed seem very very high for an IM cartridge. The owners manual pdf that you provided does not mention inductance, so far as I recall.

@lewm Nagaoka is Jeweltone in Japan, I hope this link will help a bit with info and tech specs for MP models. Use google translate or google chrome browser for automatic translation. 

Dear @lewm  : I don't hate you in any way, for me you are one of my close Agon true friends. That many times we can be in disagreement means nothing about our friendship/relationship. I love you man.

Yes, the tube subject today is just out of my mindn as you know I was a tube lover too for at least 10 tears: no way to come back no matters what. 

Yes, you are rigth about José and that's why you can read in the circuit boards: J&R.

You own the two MC stages version and just looking the circuit boards so kind cared of each single soldered part you know that " there " is something special. Everything was made it by us but the blank circuit boards that we bougth from Silicon Valley company.

Mijostyn could think about ego but no I'm not that kind of person, of course that as a human been I'm proud to own " something " builded by " my self " and that performs so good and addirtional to that I'm happy that exist other 7 proudly owners of our units.
This fact was really a fortuit one because the Essential was designed for my way demanding needs even Jos'e has not the Essential.

We really take care on the overall design and execution to that design even the logic " card " works excellent and it the circuit that starts to works when you switch-on the unit and for around 12 seconds one led is blinking and stops at the end of the check-upprocess that the Essential does it and if the unit has any single parameter out of our really tigth specs/tolerances the Essential just does not works.

The people that do not seen the Essential could think it's a " garage " item but yyyou know that is far away from there, that unit weigth around 27kg that at the end could means almost nothing.

Btw, do you already used the Neumann pole option in your unit?  I have to say that normally that 3.18us pole develops several problems of phase and other issues in the RIAA eq. when it's not well designed and I want to tell you that we really take care about.

That pole is way important to any LP lover because the inverse RIAA eq curve goes down/fall to infinitum after 20khz but during the recording process the RIAA emphasis that goes around 20db at 20khz and up does not goes at " infinitum " due that the cutter head at around 50khz it will be burn-in so exist a filter to stop process ( DMM can goes to 60khz. ) and it's this way as the LP comes to us and that's why all well recorded LPs does not have the rigth response over 20khz but only if we re-integrated the frequencies that goes losting/lowering leves through the inverse phono stages RIAA eq. curve. Anyway you have the option to test it.


The gentleman that always try to hit me but to increment his frustration never has success one time that I posted somewhere about the necessity that a phonolinepream has a wide frequency response over 1Mhz  like the Essential or Spectral and other units he asked why and been he a tube phono stage designer I thinked why is asking for when he must knew about and my answer was that ask that issue to K.Johnson of Spectral. It's way interesting.

Finally, the op-amps main issue. Which the real problem with: high feedback to lower distortion levels.

Feedback is a phenomenon created by mother's nature, Universe function with feedback, and is part of Newton laws. Our day by day life is full of feedback, even our brain works with.

Today op-amps improved a lot over the last 10-15 years. Analog Devices or Ti and other manufacturers improves about each single day. Even the ones I lnked here that we used many years ago in my first PLP and that cames from National ( out of market. ) and B&B whom was bougth by Ti performed really good.

The today op-amps are using NFB? yes but there are several ways to use NFB and depemnding of the skilled and knowledge levels of the designers that NFB " devil " could be not any more the way terrible " devil " of the past.
No one knows more about and how to use NFB that the expert ( true experts. ) engeneers from AD or Ti and other companies dedicated to.

Here what N.Pass says about and even that we could think that NFB is not what we want it read carefully the conclusion at the last sentence ( and this is only one audio gentleman amp designer. I will try to bring here to talk about to Wyn whom colaborated for years and designed for Analog Devices and now retired and working as a free-lance expert advisor. ):

https://www.passlabs.com/technical_article/audio-distortion-and-feedback/

those information comes from 2008, maybe NP could has news about and certainly he has because his First Watt amps use NFB and many people love it !.  Everything is related to the design the rigth way to use feedback. If we are totally afraid of it and I mean amp designers then could be because those amp designers just do not know yet how to " handle " it.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

@lewm  : Btw, yes after a half a hour the class A bias settle down and the RIAA bass range too due that those teflon caps needs some time to.

The Esential ""  It's excellent from the get-go but ...." as you said/experienced it.

In the other sideSET tube designs has feedback, it does not exist no-feedback as some tube designers say.

This issue was explained to me by José and no I don't go to do it. If a designer of tube electronics wants to know about it has to learn by him self.

R.

Wow, this makes me vertiginous. All I do is flip the power switch, sink in and listen. Does any of this matter to me?
Lewm, welcome to the, " how the heck do you interpret R" club. I think it is best to let him vent and move on. Trying to make sense out of what he is saying will give you a headache. We have recommended that he use a translator but he refuses. 

This from a German magazine, measurements on the MP150, a close cousin to the MP110, gave inductance of 630mH. Note also the frequency response graphs for the given load R and C. They also mentioned the MP300 in this test, and it gave near identical value for inductance, which suggests that the MP110 would measure similarly.
http://www.nagaoka-deutschland.de/pdf/TESTBERICHT%20AUDIO.pdf
This information is offered to help the OP, not to further or provoke any arguments with Raul. Other sites do quote >800mH for the MP110.


But this article may be of more help to the OP, since it does not involve understanding how inductance affects the high frequency peak that is characteristic of all MM or MI types. Here they show how the capacitance load affects the frequency response of the Nagaoka MP11, evidently a precursor to the MP110. Just know that the "capacitance load" must include the capacitance of the phono ICs + the capacitance of the phono input gain stage + any added capacitors for loading. After all this reading and researching, I am inclined to agree with Atma-sphere that the emphasis on ticks and pops which the OP experiences might be cured by changing load R or C. And this article is sort of a guide how he might do that. For sure, all these sources give high marks to the overall SQ afforded by the MP110. So high in fact that I am about to recommend it to my nephew, a budding audiophile.
http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/nagaoka_mp11_e.html

Dear @lewm  : "  I suspect Jose' has an EE background. "

Of course but not only that because he has studies ( 5 University years. ) too as: physicist and Mathematics. Additional he is an expert in digital systems/computers.

In the same way that the Essential was designed and builded to fulfill the cartridge needs and my self demanding targets in the same manner I was and am in the tonearm design and build process ( not with José. ).

As the Essential the tonearm is a true statement of audio item a true instrument level to satisfy any single cartridge needs and obviously my self needs.

Rigth now this unique tonearm ( it's copy of nothing. Is designed starting from Zero as the Essential. ) is finished and I have 3 samples working in my TTs with 3 way different cartridges. I can say it's fabulous, outstanding, unimaginable and a " dream come true " of quality level performance for say the least and again not because I did it again but .... 

In the other side, when we finished the Essential 3150 we write by hand the targets of an amplifier and the most important issue is that the amplifier is absed/founded in an all " new " output technology never used in the audio history. We don't go a head yet because my modified  monoblocks are stunning units.

I already has too ( my self with no other gentleman to my side. ) a cartridge targets design, I can mention two of those targets: output 0.05mv ( maybe even lower. ) and 30cu.

Btw, I don't know if you really know what you own in your 3160 when phonolinepreamps as: Dartzeel, Vitus, FM Acoustics, CH, D'angostino and the like can't overall beats/outperforms it.
I already listen the CH and can't do it but I don't listen the 4 chasis version of CH that could performs in different way due tha the power supply units were improved. The Vitus set you back over 70K ( phono stage plus line unit. ) and the CH 90+K and the 4 chasis over 140K prices ! !  That's what you own and nothing less.

Power supply design is critical, your 3160 unit has a more " hefty " PS than my 3180 that in reality is the same 3150 chasis and Power Supply with several improvements/up-grades in the main circuit boards.

@mijostyn , come on: is it so critical that issue? . I know is my fault.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

That gives: 17khz, no problem at all.

R.

Even welcomed. !

R.

So the low capacitance cable as the first step is now, a page and a half later, shown to be correct.

You can easily hear a peak at 17KHz as it influences an envelope of frequencies about it, going down to about 10KHz.

A gentleman with deep knowledge levels way higher than you and ovbiously than me says about:
" Clicks don’t inherently have a frequency because there is no repetition in the signal. That would be like asking "what is the frequency of an impulse? ""

Raul made this comment earlier which is mysterious, as its obvious that whoever he’s referring to here has no idea of what he was talking about. Obviously you can hear ticks and pops in the tweeter of a speaker; so you want that resonance to be well above the audio band so it becomes inaudible and not acting as a treble control. This is why there are low capacitance cables meant for phonograph use :)

Wow, problem solved!

Relax guys, the war is over! 

Great news ! I can't believe this ! I took Geof's info to heart about The Cube (he has the next model up the line- Cube SE) being very sensitive to RF and placement and last night I was moving it around a lot. Finally I placed it in front of the other equipment (a place where I would'n consider placing anything) and far away from all the cables in the back and... The Cube became DEAD QUIET! Because of the lack of any floor noise everything improved, detail, articulation, bass and treble extension, soundstage, you name it.
After a simple location change I was finally able to find out what The Black cube is all about.
Can you believe it?

Now, my next tread will be about a new turntable, which should be friendlier and more relaxed since it's about sound and not that much about technical issues.

Thank you all and stay safe!

Emil

excellent!  happy spinning!

Excellent - glad you were able to work it out! Kudos to you and Geof!

Dear @emilm : Very good news for you and in indirect way very good news for every one to know that capacitance was not the intruder.

Every single day is a learning one for the ones that are willing to do it.

Enjoy it ! !.
R.

emilm, Do you mean to say that after all that, you found you could cure your problem by changing the physical location of the Black Cube?  I hope that simple solution continues to please you.  In the meantime, I don't think the discussion was a waste of time.  If you pursue the content of the responses you got, you will have learned something.