I’ve just purchased the Stellar phono stage and am breaking it in. My cartridge is a Benz Ebony H which is a high output MC cartridge with a resistive loading of 47 K ohms. Its output voltage is 2.5 mV. This phono stage is replacing an integrated preamp with a phono stage and no adjustment on gain.
Since my output voltage is 2.5 mV, the PS Audio operation guide recommends either Medium (50 dB) or High Gain (56 dB). I underand that while breaking in, results are flexible so I’m taking that into account.
Medium gain is recommended for cartridges outputting from 2.5 mV to 4 mV, and High gain is recommended for cartridges outputting from 1 mV to 2.5 mV.
I started with Medium gain and found the music unpleasant and thought it was just breakin behavior. Then I selected High gain and music was much more pleasant and sounded like one would expect towards the end of breakin.
Of course, I’ve settled on high gain for now because it sounds better. However I don’t know why, and I would like to understand this more. So I have a few questions I’m hoping to get answered:
What does the stellar gain increase actually do?
Why does changing gain make such a difference on the music?
Why couldn’t I just turn up the volume on the preamp and get the same result?
Where is the gain in the signal path?
When breaking in the phono stage where gain is set to high, do I have to do additional breakin if the gain is changed?
I’m afraid I am not the one to answer all the questions you have here, but I do want to question that your MC cartridge is 47K ohms - If I’m not mistaken, isn’t that usually what MM cartridges require? Even high output MC cartridges are much lower loading than that.
Nonetheless, I would play around with different gain levels and loading. My cartridge is a low output MC and I found the difference in loading levels to be interesting, and not altogether bad when not at the suggested load. I also found the lowest gain worked best for mine despite it being low output.
The ears don’t lie (or if they do, the brain don’t care)
Hi Dave, so I understand your question. High output MC cartridges are set with a resistive loading of 47 K ohms so they will work on MM phono stages.
What I am now understanding about phono stages after listening to Darren’s YouTube videos is that they apply the inverse of the RIAA specification and boost gain so the preamp has something to work with. How they do that is the secret sauce. Many of my questions went away after listening to his videos. My prior experience with phono stages is that they were MM and built into recievers or preamps so I was never aware about the gain they apply so the preamp has something to work with. I’m still digging into what happens in the phono stage to get a better understanding.
I’m a hybrid guy when it comes to measurements. I always default to what sounds best, and understanding measurements helps.
I was thinking more about this just now and decided to look up your cartridge and found this page:
It lists loading at >1000 Ohms - while the math does include 47k in “>” it does not really list 47K
It also shows a voltage of 2.5mV whereas I am pretty sure MM carts are 3 to 6 - so I am unsure you can just plug and play with the MM side of things? I mean… maybe??
But again, I have not really looked into the question much. With my cart the documentation that came with it gave specifications and even some suggestion which I tried and liked.
So, there are a number of high output MC cartridgtes on the market, my Benz is just one of them. And yes, you can just plug a high output MC cartridge into the MM side.
I think when I replace it, I’m going MC; maybe a Hana Blue or even a Red.
That’s interesting to know! All these years and I never knew you could pop them on your MM circuit.
I used MMs for quite a number of years and finally switched to a low-output MC about 10 years ago. Never looked back - somehow it suits my ears better… at least the ones I ended up with do. I’ve been a big fan of the Sumiko cartidges which I currently have.