Turntable advice

if you're still thinking about the PTP...
https://hifihaven.org/index.php?threads/l75-ptp-6-slate-bokrand-12.12307/

 

Quick question about cartridge loading: how much does it matter and how close do I have to be?

I recently bought a new Rega Planar 6 and ended up ordering the Ania Pro MC cartridge because I liked it how it sounded the most. According to the specs online, recommended load settings are 100 Ω and 1000 pF.

I'll tackle the two parts separately:

• Resistance: 100 Ω seems reasonable, but neither of the the phono pres I currently own actually do this. OG Mani lets you select between 47 Ω and 47 kΩ, and my Parks Audio Puffin lets you choose between 200 Ω and 47 kΩ. Is this a "hit the order of magnitude" situation, or should I consider upgrading to a phono that has 100 Ω exactly as an option?
  
• Capacitance: 1000 pF seems insane. I did a quick bit of research and it looks like the only phono pres that do 1000 pF are Rega's own MC phonos. The highest it looks like anyone else lets you select is around 220 pF.

Would love to avoid rushing an upgrade to my phono, but I also want to have a good time with the new table/cartridge. If hitting the capacitive loading is important, I guess I'll pick up the Rega MC phono and call it done.

 

I would use the puffin on the 200ohm setting and enjoy music

If you want to tweak without buying a whole new phono stage, you can solder up a set of female to male RCA connectors. 220-470ohms in parallel with the input to reach an effective 100ohm load with 200ohm on the Puffin. Add a capacitor of around 780pF in parallel for an effective 1000pF of loading.

If you hear a difference it will likely be related to the sound colouring of the resistors or capacitors you chose and not the material change in loading values. Likewise for changing phono stages completely.

https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/cartridge-loading-plugs_topic1246.html

 

I completely agree. When I have listened to cartridge loading, both resistance and capacitor, I have found the difference to be small. I suspect that the lower you go with cartridge impedance it may become more noticeable, but those cartridges are usually out of my price range. You've got a good set-up. Enjoy it.

 

Some additional reading

https://www.hagtech.com/loading.html

https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/blog/archive/phono-cartridge-loading-capacitor.html

 

@supertransformingdhruv , at the risk of being far too simplistic:

For an MC cartridge you should only be concerned with resistance / impedance. Realistically capacitance wont have an effect on a MC until it hits silly numbers. Don't even worry about it. ( And to clarify, any number a manufacturer posts with a 'k' after it, like '47K', is capacitance. Not applicable for MC)

The correct setting for impedance on a MC is whatever you prefer, but a very valid Rule of Thumb is 5 to 10x the internal impedance of the cartridge. In practice that usually works out to a range of 30 to 100 ohms.

Your Ania Pro has an internal impedance of 10 ohms, they suggest a 100 ohm impedance setting. So, rule of thumb.

What happens if you tweak impedance up or down? It acts like a very non-linear tone control:

• Lowering impedance will lower the bass output, thin the sound, move the stage away from the listener, narrow the imaging \ focus
• Raising the impedance adds bass and fullness, widens the sound stage
• At very high settings you get a very non-linear over emphasis on high frequencies and a muddy sound over all

Within the Rule of Thumb range these changes are subtle but noticeable. It's really a preference thing, and what you prefer can be affected by a particular albums' mastering. I mess with impedance from album to album to suit however im feeling

If I had to choose a phono-pre with a single impedance setting I would go for 50 or 100 ohms. If you want to experiment with what you have use the Mani and switch between the 47 and 200 Ohm settings. Listen to the difference. You could also set it to 47 ohms and add a small resistor in parallel across the phono stage inputs. Start with one 47 ohm resistor and you're at 94 Ohms, about where Rega recommends.

 

Thanks everyone, that really helps. Maybe down the road I'll play with tweaking impedance as a "last few percent" kind of thing, but it sounds like I'll be in good shape with my current phono pre.