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In Reply to: Gain for low output cartridges posted by Hujo on September 13, 2006 at 17:31:09:
You really need about 60-dB gain for the DL103. You might be able to get by with 55-dB, but 45-dB is somewhat too low. Moving magnet phono sections have between 35-dB and 45-dB. You really need about 60-dB for the DL-103.
Follow Ups:
Just wondering how the preamp gain factors into this..if at all.Not to threadjack, but it's a similar issue: I have a CJ PV-10A with 48.5 db in the phono and 18db in the line stage.
CJ says it's good for use with a cart as low as .5mv.
The KABUSA info says ideally I would have 55 db phono gain, but the KABUSA doesn't say anything about line stage gain (my understanding is that the CJ's 18 db is somewhat high for line stage gain).
Many thanks
I think the rule-of-thumb is that you want your phono section to amplify nominal cartridge output to around 300-mV so that its volume is similar to line level components such as CD players and Tuners. To amplify 0.5-mV to 300-mV requires 55.56-dB gain. Your CJ PV-10A with its 48.5-dB phono gain would provide only 133-mV, which means that you would need to turn up volume higher for phono than for other sources. However, you should certainly have sufficient overall gain as a result of the CJ’s 18-dB line-stage gain. Therefore, if you don’t mind having a different volume setting for vinyl versus other sources, it probably doesn’t make much difference.You are correct that the CJ’s 18-dB line stage gain is somewhat higher than some other preamps. My preamp has two line-stage gain settings of 4-dB and 14-dB. I use the 4-dB setting and I cannot turn my volume control fully open for any source including phono. Normally loud listening for me reaches only about -6-dB on my line-stage volume control.
KABUSA.com has a gain calculator
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