Spencerfrater
pfm Member
Thanks Jim - yes I have the manual (and diagram) and have checked out those gain dip switches already. I sort of want to try an MC just to be able to play with those settings and see what happens... but I think the risk is too high as you say. And I understand what you say about the PSU. Are you still enjoying your Aragon 4004? The guy I sold mine to loves it.I just wonder whether any noise in the output of the psu will become noticeable if using the extra gain of the mc stage, as alluded to in your initial post.
Rather than replace the Aragon or supplement it with a separate phono stage, you could try an mc cartridge and if the extra gain proves 'noisy' add a step up transformer into the mm input perhaps.
Keep in mind also that usually mc carts don't have replaceable styli and the only course of action if damaged or worn is as described by David Ellwood in post #3 above.
I have used moving coils, and liked an AT OC9II which may work on the RB300, and currently use a Zu Denon 103R on a 12" arm. In your system, I would be inclined to try a better mm like an Ortofon 2M Black or Nagaoka 500 (as used by Tony L among others here).
If the MC itch has to be scratched the Aragon has quite useful loading adjustment -
"Soldered onto the circuit board are 3 switches for moving coil adjustments. To access them be sure the pre-amp Is unplugged from the A.C. outlet, remove the screws from the top cover, and you will notice 2 switches with 9 positions on the right side of the circuit board. Closer to the center Is a single 2 position switch. For moving call gain, the 2 position switch should have both tabs depressed towards the left (C1 & C3). The 2 switches on the right adjust loading for the two channels. therefore the adjustments should be identical on both. Each switch, from 1 to 8 will present the following load: 5 6 7 8 249 ohms 475 ohms 825 ohms 1000 ohms 1 2 3 4 10 ohms 25 ohms 47 ohms 100 ohms Check with the moving coil manufacturer as to what load is recommended. You will notice that the volume will decrease as you lower the load. I.e. 10 ohms will have less gain than 47,000 ohms. By combining switches you can create different loads. To know what load you are creating, multiply the two values, then add the two values, then divide the added value Into the multiplied value to determine the resistance."
If you haven't got it the manual (all 4 pages!) can be downloaded from Hifi Engine (where I just found the above) and a worked example is provided.
I have not (so far) spent as much as £1000 on a cartridge
Jim
Things are pointing me away from the MC and to a better MM I guess, maybe combined with an arm upgrade as suggested above. I think spending £1k on a cartridge alone seems nuts.
