Phono pre amp

Specs for your cartridge show 200ohms load, you can start around there, and listen how it goes.
My experience with VDH suggests a higher loading, but experiment all the way up.

G

very nice cartridge and phono stage, 5 inputs, lots of variability, it remembers settings!!!

your cartridge specs

https://elusivedisc.com/van-den-hul-ddt-2-special-mc-cartridge-0-65mv/

as noted, you are correct: .65mv output; coil impedance 9 ohms; recommended load 200 ohms.

You might simply ask for advice from Music Direct about your cartridge.

You also have the option of setting up slightly different settings for the 5 inputs, then simply move your tonearm's cables to those optional inputs, readily hear any differences.

@elliottbnewcombjr There's no need to unplug the cables, the settings are changed on the front panel via push button. When you change a settings it mutes for a second then changes. I'm currently at 400R. It goes from 100R to 400R no settings for 200R. I'm currently at 400R and it sounds balanced with deep bass and no shrilly highs. 100R was kind of dull. 

I often run my MC cartridges wide open (47K) if the phono stage permits. Otherwise choose any load R that is at least 10X the internal resistance of the cartridge. In this case 100ohms or any value greater would suffice. Use your ears. The negative effects that eventually set in as you reduce the phono stage load, as described by Miller carbon, occur when you reduce the load resistance below some value that usually is at least 10 times the value of the internal resistance. Also, when you go below that ratio, you begin to lose voltage output to ground, and the apparent gain of the cartridge is reduced, and the cartridge sounds muddy. Just don’t go down that far, and you won’t have that problem. Since vdH recommends 200 ohms or greater, what more do you need to know?


By the way, contrary to what miller carbon says, low output moving coil cartridges do make appreciable current. That is why the interest in current driven phono stages has legs. You can calculate for yourself the current output of an LOMC cartridge. Just divide its signal voltage output by its internal resistance. If you think about that equation, you can see that cartridges with very low internal resistance make more current, compared to higher voltage  output cartridges that also have much higher internal resistance.