Quote:
Originally Posted by jdandy
I am loading the Ortofon Cadenza Black with 50 ohms through the C2300. 100 ohms sounds a bit thinner although still enjoyable, but at 200 ohms and higher it loses its sparkle and life.
I did not realize the Fosgate was limited to 100 ohms as it's lowest load resistance. I imagine being able to roll tubes for tone adjustment may help compensate to a degree.
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Dan....here is a good read and a link to the discussion Does Cartridge Loading Really Matter?
by galibier_numero_un on Thu Aug 12, 2010 9:04 am
OK, a provocative thread title, and by no means does loading not matter. I got your attention however, didn't I?
In a recent Audiogon thread, I pointed out how wildly system dependent cartridge loading can be, and it’s almost impossible to give universal advice on the topic. People call into question, Dynavector’s recommendation for the XV1s – to load it anywhere from 35 ohms on up. I’ve found this to be the case, as I've run the Dynavector XV1s anywhere from a 35 ohm load to wide open (no loading resistors). The latter (no additional load) is in my Atma-sphere MP-1 preamp.
I'm coming to the conclusion that the cartridge doesn't care as much as we think it does, so in this sense, the thread title is correct.
The conclusion I'm arriving at is that minor ultrasonic peaks can "disturb" some phono stages more than others. Does this mean that phono stages like that of the Atma-sphere are better because they're more immune to these sorts of variations?
In one sense, I'd say yes for the following reasons. For years, I've been hearing several designers (Mike Sanders of Quicksilver amongst them) say that the more you load down a cartridge, the more you compromise its performance - especially in the realm of dynamic range, and you all know how much I value dynamic performance.
Well, the catch is, if you run unloaded with some phono stages, you’ll have the dynamics, but the tone will be so brutal that it rips the fillings out of your teeth. You're not going to enjoy your hi-fi, so load you must.
It is in this sense that a phono stage like the Atma-sphere MP-1 and the Quicksilver preamp add sonic value. They let you run your cartridge with minimal load (frequently with no additional load at all), so you can have your cake and eat it too (dynamics with no tonal penalty).
Richard pointed me to a thread from December of 2009 in which Jonathan Carr of Lyra pulled all of this together. Jonathan expounded on my above observations – adding his broad experience as a cartridge designer who gets what music sounds like.
Here’s the link to that post:
AudiogoN Forums: New Lyra Delos Cartridge. There are a lot of juicy tidbits in this thread, and I suggest you follow it from the beginning, but I want to quote the part relevant to this discussion to pique your interest further: