Capacitance settings on Manley phonostage


Was hoping I could get some advice on the capacitance settings on the Manley Chinook phonostage. I have a VPI Classic 2 with a MC Dynavector XX2 mkII cartridge...everything sounds good but I am a vinyl novice and don't know a whole lot about the capacitance setting on the back of the Chinook. I've read elsewhere that the capacitance settings don't affect MC cartridges like they do MM. I called Manley to get their input and while they were very nice, all I got was to set it at whatever sounds good to my ears. Now I do understand that's the most important thing, but what threw me was that their manual states that there is a "formula" to figuring out where to start, but when I called I was in so many words told to ignore that and just set it by ear. He also didn't make any mention that I shouldn't use different settings since I have a MC cartridge which I would think he would've mentioned if that was true....so now I'm pretty confused. I also have yet to find the capacitance of a Dynavector cartridge, so I was hoping that someone with more experience with the capacitance issue could shed some light on this and whether or not it does matter if you have a MC cartridge. Thoughts?
audioguy3107

Showing 1 response by almarg

For an excellent explanation of the technical factors that are involved, see the comments by Lyra cartridge designer Jonathan Carr here, starting with the second major paragraph in that post.

The bottom line: What stands the greatest chance of being optimal is probably the "0 pf" setting. Which isn't really zero, btw, but is the lowest possible value.

Regards,
-- Al