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Helikon LOADING

Hi, I am really confused as to what is the right loading for this cartridge. The info that came with cartridge recommends 100 ohms to 47 K ohms. The inernal resistance is 5.5 ohms. This is quite a big range to decipher the 'correct' loading or 'equalization'(my analogy)and also tough to find the right phono that matches with unknown loading. I am auditioning few phonos at present and want to slect the right combination.

Also I want to have phono that is future proof, that is if I explore in multiple different cartridges, the phono amp is/will be compatible with these Carts. I read form past threads that general guideline is 25 times its internal impedance. How hard and fast this rule is?

So what is YOUR HELIKON LOADING? and how did you decide this value?

thx,

Nil
nilthepill

Showing 1 response by willster

willster
66 posts
 
After reading this thread I went home to experiment with the loading on my Helikon which I had been using at 47K. My phono is currently set up for 100, 200, 1K, and 47K.

The 25 x output impedance suggests 137.5 ohms.

I tried 200 and there was a little more bass but the sound was uninvolving, no punch or energy. I tried 1K and that brought back the energy quite a bit. However, at that setting, it seemed that some records sounded great and others didn't. The ones that didn't had an almost "out of phase" kind of sound. The music didn't project out into the listening room the way I thought it should.

I will continue to experiment but color me confused by the results so far.
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