Want to make sure I have the correct settings for my phono pre-amp

@imhififan 

According to the manual, it states the Low Outputs are for use with Pre-Amp Separates and it is 200 Milivolt.

I guess I can try it, shouldn't hurt anything

I guess I can try it, shouldn't hurt anything

Agree, you can try High output or Low output with any Gain setting to achieve best control of volume level with highest signal to noise ratio possible.

three_easy_payments

Good point. The weakest cart I own is .26 mV.

65 dB is perfect.

I have this preamp too, do not follow the instructions. You need to try all the different combinations and listen for the best to suit yourself. Now I know this can be a pain, however it can be done on the fly and if you can get a helper to manage the switches, it should go smoothly. It is easy to eliminate some settings as they just won't sound right.

Cartridge loading is for the benefit of the phono section not the cartridge, which does not care a bit how you load it unless you get too low- at which point its output will decrease. FWIW a LOMC cartridge cannot 'ring' (distort) at audio frequencies; its inductance is too low.

A LOMC cartridge will produce noise at a very high frequency (+100KHz) due to the interaction (resonance) of the inductance of the cartridge in parallel with the capacitance of the tonearm cable (and the input capacitance of the phono section). This is essentially RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) injected directly into the front end of the phono section and it can be as much as 30dB higher than the output of the cartridge.

If the phono preamp is unhappy with that it will not sound right- it might sound 'zippy' and you may get additional ticks and pops caused by high frequency overload.  If the phono section is immune to the RFI you won't hear any difference due to loading.

So you should always try the highest loading setting possible; the industry standard for cartridge loading is 47,000 Ohms.

If you have to load the cartridge to get things to tone down and sound right, the additional load that the cartridge is driving is extra work that it has to do. This will cause the cantilever of the cartridge to be a little harder to move as it is interacting with the generator in the cartridge. The result of this can be that the mechanical resonance of the cartridge in the arm may not be what you expect. 

MM cartridges behave the same way, but the resonant peak is not as high and is much lower frequency owing to the much higher inductance of the cartridge; they do require loading because the inductance is so high the cartridge can actually 'ring' if not loaded properly. But that's a different topic.