Question about my phono stage

[Frankie Lee]

Just wondering if my amp's phono stage is capable of running a Moving Coil cartridge. It's a MM stage, but I believe that some of the Denon MC's are high-output. I have no idea what specs are important, so here are the ones I thought looked appropriate.

Here are the specs of the amp's input:
Input Sensitivity/Impedance (100W/8Ω)
Phono MM: 2.5mV/4747 kΩ

Maximum Input Signal (1 kHz, 0.05% THD, Effect On)
Phono MM: 130 mV

Here are the spec's for the cartridges I was thinking of getting:
Denon DL-103
Frequency response (Hz): 20-45,000
Output@1khz, 50mm/sec: .3mV
Output impedance: 40 ohms
Load impedance: 100ohms

Denon DL-103R
Output: 0.25 mV
Output impedance: 14ohms

[Fran]

It won't do for a 103 - thats a low output moving coil. It will work though for the likes of a DL110 or 160, sumiko blue point special and pretty much any moving magnet cartridge

[terrybites]

Hi Frankie,

The Denon (or any other low output mc cartridge) will work if you use a step up transformer. You simply insert it between your turntable and amp. I have a Rothwell MCL for sale... see below. Your welcome to try it if you wish.

Hope this helps.

Terry

http://www.musicosis.co.uk/?p=2471
http://www.dougbradyhifi.com/p-1834-rot ... ormer.aspx

[Frankie Lee]

Hi Frankie,

The Denon (or any other low output mc cartridge) will work if you use a step up transformer. You simply insert it between your turntable and amp. I have a Rothwell MCL for sale... see below. Your welcome to try it if you wish.

Hope this helps.

Terry

http://www.musicosis.co.uk/?p=2471
http://www.dougbradyhifi.com/p-1834-rot ... ormer.aspx

Thanks for that Terry. Might well be interested alright. Have PMed

This takes me to another point, which upgrade path do I consider? New cartridge or phono stage?

At the moment I'm running a Rega Elys on a Rega Planar 3 through a Yamaha DSP-A1. I'm happy with the balance of the sound but would like a bit more detail and to soften the top end a bit. My difficulty is I can't really ascertain how good the Yamaha's phono stage is. It's an old amp and there's no real reviews about the phono stage to give me any idea. I know most AV amps have crap phono stages but this was once Yamaha's flag ship processor costing E3,000 so it can't be that bad surely?

Perhaps trying a decent phono stage would be the first step.

[terrybites]

Frankie. Have a read of the following... http://www.audioasylum.com/reviews/Phon ... 64265.html

It uses your amp, a step up transformer and a Audio Technica 0C9 moving coil cartridge. I use the MKIII version of this cartridge and it works very well.

T