loading resistor question

I'm with Doak too. Other good choices are tantalum types made by Shinkoh or Audio Note and Caddock TF020 or MK132. This is the most critical use of a resistor in your audio system, IMO, and the choice does make a difference.
It's a bit dangerous to use carbon here, even for trials, because they tend to have wide tolerances. So if you play first with carbon types, plan to measure them with an ohmmeter before inserting them, so you know for sure what you are hearing. And too, a carbon resistor will have colorations that will go away when you substitute a Vishay or a tant or a Caddock, e.g.
I would not use a wire wound unless it was a non-inductive type and you otherwise like it.

So if you play first with carbon types, plan to measure them with an ohmmeter before inserting them, so you know for sure what you are hearing. And too, a carbon resistor will have colorations that will go away when you substitute a Vishay or a tant or a Caddock, e.g.
I would not use a wire wound unless it was a non-inductive type and you otherwise like it.
Lewm (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)

I suggested the carbon for trial because of the cost. A typical 5% wouldn't make that big a difference in the sound when your changing the values at lot more extreme than that. Vishay resistors are to fragile to keep swapping them out, and buying a handful of different values is way to costly IMO.

This link may be of interest to you. Scroll down to get to the photo and instructions, though I don't know if it will work with your phono stage.

Invest in a good resister as the noise that is created across it will be amplified along with the signal. The % value is less important than the construction/materials.

Thank you for all your responses. So it looks like the loading resistor in a phono preamp indeed does make a difference in the quality of the sound.

I'll investigate some more and get a decent pair of 500 ohm resistors. The Sutherland PhD load card allows you to load it with 4 different values and you can easily go from one value to another by rotating the card.