Need to turn volume all the way up with cartridge

Do you mean .25 mV or 2.5 mV? 25 mV and you wouldn't have this problem.

It sounds like you need more gain. That doesn't necessarily mean a 'better' phono stage, just as amplifiers with more power don't necessarily sound better than lower powered amps.

You either need a phono stage with more gain, or you can use the same phono stage and add a Step Up Transformer. Either way, your cartridge will play louder.

My cartridge has a 0.24 mV output, and my phono stage has 66 db of gain, how much gain does your phono stage have? I'll assume you meant that your cartridge has a 0.25 mV output.

Cheers,
John

What John says. You can also stick with your present phono stage and get a cartridge with a higher output, say, one with 2.5 mV.

My appolagies for breaking into this thread. I have the same problem! A phono stage with gain of 60 and a cartridge with 0.5 output. My stage is loaded at 47k which I assumed was for MM cartridges. What do I need in the way of a transformer to correct this. I read Jmcgrogan2's thread but it's a bit over my head. Suggestions please ....

I know whatever John said is (practically) bible when it comes to vinyl.

Contact John at bentaudio and discuss your situation (he makes a very, and I mean very good SUT) for under $1K I believe.