What loading with Pass Xono / Helikon SL?

I recently found that when I shunt the gain to -4dB of the original that I can increase the loading from 5.4ohm to 9.5ohm and it sounds more open, but if I load it higher it sounds too bright at the top. It just seems a delicate balance and your best bet is to play with the loading in incremental steps in either direction to see what you prefer.

I have the pass xono with helicon sl on a linn ekos tonearm/linn lp12 with audioquest leopard tonearm cables and cheetah interconnects, bat 31se preamp, x250.5 amp and magnepan 20.1. believe it or not, I load the xono at its most resistive setting 5.4ohm. my speakers have great clarity in the highs but get more grainy if i set it higher. i probably am an outlier, but loading is such a personal thing, i don't think there is a correct formula for it and you have to talk to people who have exactly the same equipment and preference, otherwise it's all just talk.