Cartridge impedance loading question


Hi folks. I have a Shelter 501 Mk 11 cartridge going into a Lehmann Black Cube phono pre. The Shelter's impedance is 12 ohms. The recommended load impedance in the Shelter specs is ambiguous…

Other than a user retrofittable option the Lehmann moving coil options are 80, 100, 470 & 47k ohms. What would you be using?

Thanks!
houseofhits
Running a typical MC cart. with a load of 47K is kind of like driving your car without shock absorbers. The inductance of the cart. in combination with the load capacitance forms a resonance circuit. With a 47K load and typical values for inductance and capacitance the peak is usually well past the audio band. The audio band may still be flat, but he response above the audio band will be rising. This will make the system more sensitive to surface noise and pops and other ultrasonic disturbances. If rise intrudes into the upper audio band any excitation of the resonance (ultrasonic surface noise and pops) will be made more audible.

Load the cart. down with a too small value resistor and the frequency response starts to drop in the audio band. Get it right and the response will be maximally flat. Load it with a high value resistor and get an ultrasonic peak in the response.
John, Please see my post above and Atmasphere's post above that. The numbers say that what you say is happening in the audible band is happening at way way higher frequencies than that. Can you offer the math? Aside from that argument, if you listened to an MC cartridge loaded at 47K, and if it sounded better in most ways at 47K than it did at some significantly lower value (higher load), would you then conclude that you had to change the load resistor to conform better to the theory, or would you say f*** it and just enjoy the music?

Then too, we have the arguments from Jonathan Carr, Allen Wright, and Ralph Karsten, not to mention other authorities we do not know about, all to the contrary of your position. I concede that all of those guys, as well as you, know more about the physics of the situation than I do, but there is an argument opposite yours, apparently.

These analogies between cartridge loading and automobile technology have their limitations.
thanks to Atmasphere, this is the most informative discussion of cartridge loading I've ever seen!
Lloydc, that may true but my head hurts. I have read and reread. Still do not fully understand. I no longer care about a complete understanding. Now I just wish to understand from my situation. If I turn the volume up two or three or four times the normal listening volume with the arm in it's Sadler, platter spinning, phono stage and integrated amp on with everything connected from the LOMC through sut to the speakers and there is no noise except air, do I not to need load? I mean no noise means no RFI? At least, I think that is the way I understand it.
Then again my head hurts 🌝🔫
There should be no tonal change with different loads. If there is, it's either RFI or intermodulation from that high frequency oscillation. In such cases all you can do is load it down or try another cartridge or phono stage.