Phono Cartridge Loading

http://www.beavishifi.com/articles/Cartidge-Loading/[02/10/2014 9:08:34 AM]

Phono Car t r i dge Loadi ng: Get t i ng t he Best Mat c h bet w een your Car t r i dge
and Pr eampl i f i er

Phono preamplifiers are designed to accomplish two main tasks. First, they amplify the output of
the turntables cartridge, taking the weak signal and raising it up to a level that is friendly with
your amplifiers input stage. Secondly, the circuit accounts for the RIAA curvea mastering
technique that allows vinyl to support longer playing times and approach high fidelity.
Car t r i dge Loadi ng
One of the key characteristics of a phono preamplifier is the input
impedance, i.e. the impedance that the preamplifier presents to the
cartridge sitting at the end of your tone arm. Somewhere, back in the
dusty recesses of history, somebody decided that the standard input
impedance for a preamplifier should be 47K ohms.
This arrangement has worked well over the decades as moving-magnet
cartridge manufacturers have attempted to design parts that are rated with an output impedance
of 47K.
Synopsi s
Most phono preamps
present an impedance
of 47k ohms to the
input. This is known as
cartridge loading
You can create circuits
that provider user-
adjustable cartridge
loading to optimize
sound quality
This article explains
cartridge loading and,
input impedance and
flexible approach to
customization.
But this one size fits all approach is not ideal, and many DIY folks and general hi-fi enthusiasts have been experimenting
with different input impedance values, sometimes with great results. In fact, a general consensus is that 47K is too high a
value when you are dealing with different cartridges.
Input impedance in a phono preamplifier circuit is typically set by a resistor from the input jack of the preamplifier to ground.
This resistance works in concert with any capacitance at the input (from the cable or from a capacitor in the signal path at
the input) to form the input impedance. So a 47K ohm resistor wired from the input to ground would generally set an input
impedance of roughly 47k ohms.
Around five years ago, gear whores started experimenting with the input impedance, trying to match it closer to either the
manufacturers recommended value, or tuning the value by ear.
The general rule is that:
a higher input impedance will shift the frequency response towards higher frequencies
a lower input impedance will emphasize lower frequencies.
Given that there is a lot of variance in the cartridge impedance characteristics, it becomes clear that a fixed input impedance
on our preamp prevents us from finding the ideal match between cartridge and preamp.
Some very high-end manufactures have implemented a variable input impedance scheme in their phono preamplifier
products. For example, the Vacuum State SVP-1 and SVP-2 models include various RCA plugs that you can connect to the
backplane to set impedance with a great deal of resolution. Unfortunately, the $6,000 price point of the SVP series puts it
out of reach of anything but the most hardcore (and well-heeled) audio buyers.
Which is a shame. Because all that is needed to implement variable input impedance is a set of carefully matched resistors,
and some type of switching mechanism.
Once you have decided that you want to experiment with adjustable cartridge loading, there are several practical
Phono Cartridge Loading
http://www.beavishifi.com/articles/Cartidge-Loading/[02/10/2014 9:08:34 AM]
considerations to take into account. You want to replace or augment the phono preamplifier's input resistor with additional
values.
Mul t i pl e Resi st or s Pl us a Sw i t c h
Let's look at a simple arrangement for configurable cartridge loading. We will use a standard passive preamplifier circuit with
an operational amplifier. Note that only one channel is shown--for a true working circuit, you would duplicate the schematic
for the other channel.
Fi gur e 1 - A Gener al Opamp-based Pr eampl i f i er w i t h Fi x ed Car t r i dge Loadi ng
In this generalized schematic, you can see a
47K ohm resistor from the input to ground.
This value defines the input impedance of
the circuit. The standard value of 47K ohms
is what you will find in almost all commercial
preamplifiers. It is designed to present the
most common input impedance to the
phono cartridge.
As you can see, this simple implementation
lends itself to easy modding. In other words,
instead of just using a soldered-in 47K ohm
part, you can add a switch and a bank of
resistors.


Fi gur e 2 - A Gener al Opamp-based Pr eampl i f i er w i t h Sw i t c habl e Car t r i dge
Loadi ng
So to implement variable cartridge loading,
all we need to do us come up with some
type of switching arrangement and multiple
resistors. In the modified schematic, we
replace the single 47K ohm resistor with a
multi-position selection switch, and three
additional resistors.
The values of R1, R2, R3 and R4 are chosen
according to the cartridge loading values
you want to use. Most likely, R1 will be the
standard 47K ohm value with R2, R3, R4
values chosen according to taste.

By using a parallel switch arrangement, we
can take advantage of parallel resistors for a
more fine-grained cartridge loading control.
To accomplish this, we use a series of
SPST switches, or better yet, a DIP Switch.
Resistors in parallel can be calculated using
the following formula:
1 / R
TOTAL
= (1 / R
1
) + (1 / R
2
) + (1 /
R
3
) + ...
Phono Cartridge Loading
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Fi gur e 3 - Usi ng Par al l el Resi st or s
So we can now choose values for R1
through R4 that work well within our desired
input impedance range.
To simplify this task, check out the awesome
calculators available online at
www.electronics2000.co.uk. Here is the link
for the parallel resistance calculator:
http://www.electronics2000.co.uk/calc/series-
parallel-resistor-calculator.php
Whi c h Resi st or Val ues Shoul d I Choose?
For variable cartridge loading, you want values that go below and above the 47K ohm standard. This gives you the flexibility
to raise or lower the cartridge loading. Assuming you are using four resistors per channel, a good choice for values is:
1. 150K ohm
2. 82K ohm
3. 47K ohm
4. 12K ohm
Of course, you can choose values that give you the range of cartridge loading you want.
What t ype of r esi st or s?
As for the resistors themselves, you want to ensure that the values used
are closely matched in each channel. In other words, the resistor you
install for R1 on the left channel should be as close as possible to the
same resistor on the right channel.
In general, if you use high-quality 1% tolerance resistors, you should be
fairly close. But in the finest anal-retentive tradition, I like to hand match
the part values for each channel using a good DMM.
There are many types of resistors available--for general hifi work, I
almost always use metal film 1% parts. A line that I am particularly fond
of are
IRC RC Series Precision Metal Film Resistors.
Why Not Use Pot ent i omet er s?
If you have a good eye, you may have looked at the above schematics and all the switching arrangements and asked
yourself: why not just use a potentiometer instead of fixed resistors and switches? After all, a potentiometer gives you an
almost infinite range of resistance. The main problem is Channel Mismatch.
Because we are dealing with stereo, you would either have to use two separate potentiometers, or a dual-gang part. This
pretty much guarantees that you won't get a good impedance match between channels except by sheer chance. If you use
two pots, you will not be able to accurately dial in the pots so each channel matches. And with dual gang potentiometers,
even high-end ones, you will end up with different resistance values on each of the gangs.
Phono Cartridge Loading
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Pr ot ec t i ng Agai nst t he DC Pat h
If you implement a switching design that opens the possibility for having no resistor in circuit, then you can have problems if
you connect your turntable to the phono preamp and power it on. In this scenario, DC path issues can potentially damage
your cartridge.
There are two ways to handle this:
Always be absolutely sure to power off your phone preamplifier and disconnect it physically from your turntable before
making any adjustments to input impedance.
Install a large-value resistor in circuit so that DC path issues are handled regardless of configuration. For example, a
2.2 Mohm resistor will protect the input while its high value allows it to play well within a multiple resistor switching
arrangement. The diagram below shows this type of installation:
Sw i t c h and Topol ogy Choi c es
In the above schematic, we used a multi-position switch. The most common type of switch used
in this arrangement is a rotary switch, as shown at the right.
A rotary switch allows you to switch between values by turning the knob. The wiring diagram for
a rotary switch maps exactly to the "one resistor at a time" model shown in Figure 2..
This allows for one value to be chosen at a time. However, there are other ways to accomplish
the same task but allow even greater flexibility. For example, instead of a rotary switch/one-
value-at-a-time approach, how about individual SPST switches that can be turned on or off in any combination? This gives
you a much greater range of values.
If you want to build a cartridge loading selector and have the switches available on the outside of the
enclosure, SPST miniature toggle switches are a good choice. You can easily drill the holes and mount
four SPST switches for each channel. On the other hand, if you want the switches inside the enclosure
for less frequent adjustment, a plastic DIP switch mounted to a PC board is easier to realize. The DIP
switch is familiar to anyone who has had to pop the case on older computers to set options. Each
switch is simply a SPST switch that is on or off depending on the position of the small "nub" on the top.
Using a bank of SPST switches or a DIP switch, with the resistor values shown above, the following values are available for
your tweaking pleasure:
I mpedanc e K SW1 150 K SW2 82 K SW3 47 K SW4 12 K
8.09 On On On On
8.55 Off Off On On
8.98 On Off On On
10.46 Off On Off On
Phono Cartridge Loading
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11.11 On Off Off On
12.00 Off Off Off On
29.78 Off On On On
29.91 On On On Off
35.78 On On Off Off
47.00 Off Off On Off
53.02 On On Off Off
82.00 Off In Off Off
150.00 On Off Off Off

Bui l di ng Some Har dw ar e
In an upcoming project, I'll illustrate several hardware approaches to implementing a variable impedance switcher.
Ac k now l edgment s and Ref er enc es
Discussions about variable input impedance can be found in this fantastically long and involved thread at:
http://www.vinylengine.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6674
A particularly nice article on Cartridge Loading: http://www.hagtech.com/loading.html
Load the Magnets!!! from http://www.tnt-audio.com/sorgenti/load_the_magnets_e.html

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