Phono Preamp Help - 47K Ohms - 100 Ohms .. Huh?


I am relatively new to analog and therefore have little experience matching a cartridge with a phono preamp. I currently have a Shelter 901 which the user manual specs at "within 100 Ohms" as the recommended load impedance for the head amp. I've been shopping for a new phono pre and find that many top phono pre's are all rated at 47K Ohms and are not switchable.

This got me thinking that maybe 47K Ohms was the right setting for ALL phono stages and sounds the best... So since I currently use a Black Cube which IS switchable between 47K Ohms and 100 Ohms I decided to play around.

When in the 100 Ohm setting, I feel the sound is crystal clear - nearly perfect - yet the midrange seems recessed ever so slightly causing some recordings which I know should have heft and body to be somewhat recessed sounding and maybe thin. Also, at 100 Ohms, the sound is not quite as involving as I like. It's not exactly bright but quite close.... really close - in fact, as extended as I've ever heard a system be without being able to confirm it as being bright.

Switching das cube over to 47K Ohms gives a dynamite midrange. Very impressive vocals. Solo instruments seem incredibly lifelike - highs are ever-so-slightly rolled when compared to the 100 Ohm but during complex music, and even not-so-complex music the mids seem somehow congested as if the notes are bumping into one another slightly - perhaps muddy - more or less "confused". This sucks because everything else seems to be close to perfect.

Each setting has its virtues but I feel the 47K Ohm setting would be ideal without the midrange confusion.

Now for the questions...

If my Shelter 901 is designed for "within 100 Ohms" what the heck does that mean? Within? Does this mean I need to stay at 100 Ohms for the best match to the cartridge?

When switching to 47K as I said above, there are some advantages and clearly a few disadvantages. Are the downfalls more related to the phono preamp, the cartridge or even the impedance match? I mean, could the congestion be a result of the black cube itself vs. a direct result of the impedance settings?

What's more important - the preamp or the impedance setting?
bwhite

Showing 1 response by jwt

I just bought a Denon 103R cartridge from Audiocubes out of Japan, I opened the box and read the instructions included with the cartidge, it strangely read among other things the LOADING WAS 47K, uh, what, this is supposedly a very low output Moving Coil cartridge. I have not emailed them yet to bring this to their attention.

I proceeded to adjust the Jeff Rowland Concentra II to 100 ohms as well hook up the Denon step up tranformer I got from Audiocubes as well.

This all done and the cartridge installed, and tweaked for about an hour or so and surprise surprise, not bad, open airy. my table is light in the bass anyway, its a tweaked Well Tempered.
Tomorrow night I will take out the Denon transformer then listen and see what happens. Any pointer's would be extremely helpful.