help please. i need opinions of high output carts


i've just switched from a rogue 99 to a marantz model 7 preamp. love the marantz, but my low-output grado statement (4.5 mv on mine) needs replacing with higher output. table is a vpi aries (which i also love); amp is david berning designed audionics of oregon ba150; speakers good old kef 105.2's although i switch to bozak rhapsodies when i need to move more air. any suggestions? i've been recommended a benz micro h2, a van der hul mc2, and a dynavector 20xh. sounds to me like the 1st 2 may be in a higher league but i have no way to really know. HELP!
tagyerit

Showing 2 responses by franks

If your talking about the top of the line grado statement the original had an output of 0.8mv and the current version is 0.5mv. There is a "statement" series which covers the entire price range all having an output of 0.5mv. The "reference" series has outputs of 4.8mv.

The 0.5mv output needs a phono section gain of 55-60db to work well, usually found in phono sections with moving coil inputs. I suspect you have a moving magnet phono section which usally have gains in the 40db range and require a cart. output of 1.5mv or higher.

The 4.8mv output you mention is one of, if not the highest, gain available. Most "high output" moving coil cart.'s have gains in the 2-2.5 range. There are lots of nice high output cartridges available. Let us know what your actual phono section/cartridge situation is and will go from there.
It sounds like you love the marantz and would like to keep the grado statement. This is probably the best idea as the statement is pretty high up on the analog food chain and IMHO, going to be hard to top with a high output cartridge. There are better cartridges but all are low output moving coils. The grado reference 4.8mv version or the benz m2, while they have suffient output for the marantz 7, they are not the sonic equal of the statement.

I do have a solution. What you need is additional gain, and the way to accomplish this is with a stepup transformer.
Now, these can get very expensive, but there is a very nice one from EAR called the MC3 which is reasonably priced at $995. This is different from an outboard phono preamp as the stepup transformer doesn't have a RIAA network, which you don't need, as you already have the RIAA network in your existing phono section. You can get more info at the EAR USA web site as well as a list of dealers. If you do decide to go this route, this is one time I would strongly reccomend that you purchase it thru a dealer who will help you set it up and optimize/integrate it into your system.