Will I need A moving coil set up device?

Important follow-up to my previous post:

After looking more closely at the Stereophile review, I see that their statement about marginal noise performance with a 2mv cartridge was with a 28db head amp in place, ahead of the preamp. Given that, the review undoubtedly omitted a decimal point, and intended to refer to 0.2mv cartridges, not 2.0mv cartridges. And the noise performance was most likely reflective mainly of the head amp, not of the preamp.

The Koetsu Black, which they referred to as providing marginal noise performance when fed straight into the Premier 3, is (and I believe was) a 0.6mv cartridge, according to the cartridge database at vinylengine.com. The low output Dynavector's and Accuphases's which Stereophile referred to as working unacceptably when fed straight into the Premier 3 had outputs in the rough ballpark of 0.2 or 0.3mv.

So I suspect that you will be fine with a 4.0mv cartridge, if that is indeed what it is.

Regards,
-- Al

Thanks for your feedback,especially Al for your research. I double checked the box my cartridge came in and it is A MC Gold and the output voltage is 0.4mv as Goldeneraguy suspected. I think Al was A little suspicious also. Unfortunately my error probability changes everything, sorry about that. I don't want to spend more money and put another component in the signal path. Based on my new information and what Ive read so far Im guessing Ill need A step up device. Ill also contact CJ and see what they say. This problem is new to me, do I have A user unfriendly cartridge that will be a problem with most preamps? Vinyl is my only source so I guess I have lot to learn. Thanks, Billy

Hi Billy,

I wouldn't say that it's a user unfriendly cartridge; it's just that some preamps include a gain stage suitable for use with low output moving coil cartridges (especially many of the more expensive preamps), and some don't (especially many of the less expensive ones).

Unfortunately, though, I would say that with a 0.4mv cartridge and the preamp's 40db phono stage, which is obviously intended for higher output cartridges, you most likely will need either a step-up transformer or head amp. And that would seem to be confirmed by the statements in the review that a 0.6mv cartridge was marginal.

Although if your listening is just to music that never gets very soft, such as most rock recordings, it seems conceivable to me that the results (in terms of hiss level) might be tolerable.

But do also reconsider the possibility of adding an external phono stage, and running it into a line level input of the preamp. You can find a number of them that I understand to be well regarded at Audio Advisor, in many cases for less than the price of a quality transformer or head amp. Several of the models that are listed as mm/mc compatible cost well under $200.

Good luck!

-- Al

Or, if you still want to purchase the CJ premier 3 you might want to look at the Bobs Devices site.I do not have any experience with his SUT's but I am told they cant be beat at the price.Best of luck in your decision

I use one of the Bob's Devices CineMag SUTs and it is very good; see recent mini review in Stereophile.