Don .... with respect, give me a break. I own an ARC PH-8 phono stage which also has 58 db of gain. The PH-8 can handle cartridges with output as low as .5 mV, such as my Lyra Kleos. I think many members would agree that the Lyra Delos and Kleos are pretty fine cartridges. So I don't think I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel on the vinyl side of my rig.
Btw, I've had conversations with Peter Ledermann of Sound-Smith about his low output MI cartridges such as the Paua and Sussaro (.3 mV output). The output of those cartridges is obviously too low for my phono pre, but Peter said he might be able to custom build some of his cartridges to squeeze more output as a special order item.
Bruce
Btw, I've had conversations with Peter Ledermann of Sound-Smith about his low output MI cartridges such as the Paua and Sussaro (.3 mV output). The output of those cartridges is obviously too low for my phono pre, but Peter said he might be able to custom build some of his cartridges to squeeze more output as a special order item.
Bruce