Hi all -- thought I'd ask here hoping someone would be able to give me a technical/scientific reason why a phono stage I just acquired works so well with my cartridge when the numbers say it technically should not work.
My Clearaudio MC cartridge has the following specs:
Output Voltage = 0.5mV
Impedance = 50 Ohms
My new phono stage, Line Magnetic LP-33, has the following specs:
Input Sensitivity MC: 1mV(H), 0.5mV(L)
Input Sensitivity MM: 6mV
Gain MC: 66dB(H), 72dB(L)
Gain MM: 50dB
Input Impedance MC: 100?(H), 47?(L)
Input Impedance MM: 50k?
Output Impedance: 10k?
The optimum gain for the output of my cart is around 56dB and loading should be in the 500 to 1000 ohms range. I had recently been using this cart with my McIntosh C-53 solid state preamp's built in phono stage with fixed gain at 60dB and the loading set at 1000 Ohms and it sounded great.
This Line Magnetic phono stage is tube driven and only has two settings (High/Low) for an MC cart as listed in above specs. After trying both settings, it was clear the Low setting sounded best, and in fact, it sounds fantastic! - much better than my McIntosh's solid state phono stage. But technically speaking, this new phono stage should sound horrible because at the low setting it's providing 72dB of gain which should be producing clipping and distortion. And with providing only 47 Ohms of resistance, it should sound muffled and lifeless. While I'm enjoying the sound, it really bugs me how these numbers can be so off but yielding such great sound.
The only numbers that line up between this phono stage and the cart is that both the cart's output voltage and the phono stage's input sensitivity are both 0.5mV, other than that, the numbers are way off. I'm wondering if the tubes interact differently with a MC cart than that of a solid state phono stage? (I would think this shouldn't be the case)
Anyway, I'm hoping someone here can explain why these "off" numbers are working so well.
--cheers!
My Clearaudio MC cartridge has the following specs:
Output Voltage = 0.5mV
Impedance = 50 Ohms
My new phono stage, Line Magnetic LP-33, has the following specs:
Input Sensitivity MC: 1mV(H), 0.5mV(L)
Input Sensitivity MM: 6mV
Gain MC: 66dB(H), 72dB(L)
Gain MM: 50dB
Input Impedance MC: 100?(H), 47?(L)
Input Impedance MM: 50k?
Output Impedance: 10k?
The optimum gain for the output of my cart is around 56dB and loading should be in the 500 to 1000 ohms range. I had recently been using this cart with my McIntosh C-53 solid state preamp's built in phono stage with fixed gain at 60dB and the loading set at 1000 Ohms and it sounded great.
This Line Magnetic phono stage is tube driven and only has two settings (High/Low) for an MC cart as listed in above specs. After trying both settings, it was clear the Low setting sounded best, and in fact, it sounds fantastic! - much better than my McIntosh's solid state phono stage. But technically speaking, this new phono stage should sound horrible because at the low setting it's providing 72dB of gain which should be producing clipping and distortion. And with providing only 47 Ohms of resistance, it should sound muffled and lifeless. While I'm enjoying the sound, it really bugs me how these numbers can be so off but yielding such great sound.
The only numbers that line up between this phono stage and the cart is that both the cart's output voltage and the phono stage's input sensitivity are both 0.5mV, other than that, the numbers are way off. I'm wondering if the tubes interact differently with a MC cart than that of a solid state phono stage? (I would think this shouldn't be the case)
Anyway, I'm hoping someone here can explain why these "off" numbers are working so well.
--cheers!