Based on the specs you are showing, the match for cart. loading should be OK. I own the Hovland and I use a Benz Ruby 2 LO. The Hovland is designed to work well with just about any cart. out there providing low noise and excellent dynamics with a step-up transformer. If you want to be absolutely certain, call Hovland and talk to Alex Crespi who will tell you exactly what you want to know. If you want to load your cart. at a lower impedence, Hovland will change your fixed 530 ohms to around 200. Many cartridges load better at a lower impedence, but be aware that cart. loading is tricky with a step-up in the mix. Alex I believe will echo this if you talk to him. Don't be influenced by friends or threads here where people talk about various cart. loadings. They might be using preamps with active phono stages which react differently to cart. loads. BTW, depending on the age of your Hovland, there might be mods available from Hovland at a reasonable price. Mine is almost 5 years old and I had mods done by them last Dec. and they made the already outstandingly quiet phono section even quieter. Well worth the expense.
Matching Cartridge to Hovland Phono
Question: I have the Hovland HP-100 with the MC 63db step-up transformer. Looking at their specs (below) is a Dynavector 20xl a good 'match' to this phono? I have some difficulty understanding what to look for in getting an ideal match.
Specs for the DV 20xl:
SPECIFICATIONS
Type High/Low output moving coil cartridge with flux damper and softened magnetism
Output Voltage 2.8mV / 0.3mV (at 1KHz, 5cm/sec.)
Channel Separation 25 dB (at 1KHz)
Channel balance 1.0 dB (at 1KHz)
Frequency response 20 - 20,000Hz (± 2dB)
Compliance 12 x 10-6 cm/dyn
Tracking force 1.8 - 2.2grams
DC resistance 150 ohms / 5 ohms
Recommended load
resistance > 1Kohms / > 30 ohms
Cantilever 6mm length, hard aluminium pipe
Stylus Micro-Ridge
Weight 8.6 grams
Hovland HP-100:
Phono Stage (46 dB gain)
Minimum input voltage: approx. 0.7 millivolt @ 1000 Hz
Input impedance: 1 meg ohm
Frequency response: ±0.15 dB, 25 Hz - 25 kHz
S/N ratio: 60 dB below 2 mv input wideband
75 dB below 2 mv input w/ 400 Hz high-pass filter
MC Phono Stage with MC-7 Transformer (63 dB gain)
Maximum input voltage: approx. 1.0 millivolt @ 1000 Hz
Input impedance: approx. 530 Ω (provision for reduced loading)
Specs for the DV 20xl:
SPECIFICATIONS
Type High/Low output moving coil cartridge with flux damper and softened magnetism
Output Voltage 2.8mV / 0.3mV (at 1KHz, 5cm/sec.)
Channel Separation 25 dB (at 1KHz)
Channel balance 1.0 dB (at 1KHz)
Frequency response 20 - 20,000Hz (± 2dB)
Compliance 12 x 10-6 cm/dyn
Tracking force 1.8 - 2.2grams
DC resistance 150 ohms / 5 ohms
Recommended load
resistance > 1Kohms / > 30 ohms
Cantilever 6mm length, hard aluminium pipe
Stylus Micro-Ridge
Weight 8.6 grams
Hovland HP-100:
Phono Stage (46 dB gain)
Minimum input voltage: approx. 0.7 millivolt @ 1000 Hz
Input impedance: 1 meg ohm
Frequency response: ±0.15 dB, 25 Hz - 25 kHz
S/N ratio: 60 dB below 2 mv input wideband
75 dB below 2 mv input w/ 400 Hz high-pass filter
MC Phono Stage with MC-7 Transformer (63 dB gain)
Maximum input voltage: approx. 1.0 millivolt @ 1000 Hz
Input impedance: approx. 530 Ω (provision for reduced loading)