Impedance: 30 ohms at 1Kz
Can you run the HANA SL MC at 100 ohms?
I am tempted by the Hana low output MC cartridge which has gotten great reviews and seems good value. However the mfr specs say the loading should be > 400 ohms. My own phono stage only allows 100 ohms for MC cartridges-as do many others. Has anyone tried the Hana at 100 ohms and were you happy with the result? Also what difference should I expect to hear at 100 versus 400?
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- 13 posts total
30 ohms is pretty high for a cartridge of that output. At 100 ohms loading you’ll lose around 2.28 dB of signal in theory (relative to infinite ohms "no loading"; and about 1.65 dB down relative to the recommended 400 ohms loading, again in theory) and will start to induce some frequency response deviations from flat. But it will work, and only you can say whether you’ll like the effect. |
As mulveling says, you will lose some output signal voltage at 100 ohms load, but also you will lose some extreme high frequency response. The cartridge may sound a bit dull and rolled off with that load and a source impedance of 30 ohms, besides the penalty in over all gain. However, it should be no big deal to change the load resistance afforded by your phono input, unless it uses an SUT to boost gain, in which case it gets a bit more complicated, but still not un-fixable. |
I have a Hana EL which is basically the same thing specwise.I bought this from dB Systems: https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/60044/DB_Systems-DB_Systems_DBP-6_MC_Phono_Resistor_Loading_Kit-T...They will provide it with any value you want. I got one for 400 ohms and it works great.That being said, it didn't sound bad at 100 ohms either. |
My old dealer sold me one of those DB-Systems kits when I first got into vinyl, ~ 11 years ago. The adapter cable & plugs/jacks are very plain, and won’t satisfy anyone with audiophile nervosa and 4 or 5-figure cables, but the kit is very handy and it’s fun to play with the different loading values! If nothing else, it can help you hone in on the optimal loading for a cartridge before you explore more hard-wired loading solutions with exotic resistors. But I used ’em patched in full-time with my first Benz Glider and later an Ortofon Kontrapunkt "c", to good effect. Good to know they still make ’em. The kit could use a few more values above 200, up to at least 1K, though. Right now it’s pretty much focused on low-output MC’s with less that 15 ohms coils. And that 10 ohms (or even 20 ohms), I can’t imagine ever using. |
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