As follow-up to my recent post titled "Da Benz", I'm trying to better educate myself on how to pick a phono cartridge. There are many to choose from but I don't know which "type(s)" (i.e., output, etc.) will work well with my setup. Not considering price or characteristics at this point, but simply compatibility . Once I know that I can research options to make a selection. Looking through some past forums I see this can get complicated, so I'll provide some info on my setup:
Conrad Johnson EF-1 Phono Stage
Gain: 40, 46, 52 db
Phono Overload: 70 mV (40 db gain setting)
Hum and Noise: 88 db below 10mV input
Conrad Johnson Premier 16LS Pre Amp
Gain: 25 db
Maximum input: 15 vrms
Output impedance: under 700 ohms
Hum and noise: 96 db below 1.0 mV
Conrad Johnson Premier 12 mono block Amps
140 watts per channel
Input Sensitivity: 0.90 volts to full power
Input Impedance: 100k ohms
SME IV Arm
Cartridge weight range: 5 - 16 grams
Weight: 700 grams
And my leading cartridge candidate is the Benz Micro Wood (available in low, medium, and high versions), specs as follows:
Output voltage: 0.4 (Low) 0.8 (Medium) 2.5 (High)
Internal ohms: 12 (Low) 24 (Medium) 90 (High)
Loading Range: >100 (Low) >1000 (Medium) 47k (High)
Weight: 9 grams
Compliance: 15 (Low) 14 (Medium) 14 (High)
Tracking 1.6 - 1.9 grams
The high output has been suggested.
However, what cartridge specs should I be looking at for compatibility sake with my equipment and why? I have no idea!!!!
Thank you to anyone who's willing to take the time to read and respond to a posting like this! :-)
Randy
