Unmatchable cartridge impedance

Posted by: Rockingdoc on 23 September 2002

It seems that the MC phono boards for the 52 (and I presume the Prefix and all other Naim MC phonostages) offer an impedance of 470 Ohms (S boards) or higher. One of my cartridges is the Ortophon Rohmann with a recommended load of only 10 - 100 Ohms. With my old Levinson phono-stage lower impedance loads were available, and the cartridge sounded much better on the lower loads than the higher ones in that pre-amp.
Sounds o.k. in my 52 with S boards, but I can't help wondering if a lower impedance load would improve it.
Has anyone tried to lower the impedance presented by Naim MC boards? Why don't Naim offer other load options?

Posted on: 25 September 2002 by Rockingdoc

Looks quite interesting, thanks. Still not quite the answer to my problem though. I'm sure others on the forum use the Rohmann cartridge too. What phono-boards do you prefer? I suspect the answer will be found with the release of the new super expensive Naim phono stage to partner the 552.

Posted on: 25 September 2002 by Rico

actually the K boards offer 560ohm, rather than the 470 ohm of the S boards. The MM boards offer 47 ohm.

Perhaps an e-mail to Naim Service might be useful.

HTH.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio