Author Topic: Matching cartridge capacitance with tonearm wiring/interconnect/phono stage.  (Read 2787 times)

Offline RnR

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Hey there,

I was hoping someone could help me out with matching a cartridge's suggested capacitance to that of the tonearm wiring/interconnect/phono stage.  I am interested in possibly getting a Clearaudio Maestro V2 cartridge to match my Clearaudio Satisfy tonearm, and up until this point have been told and read that these are excellent matches for one another.  Though, after comparing the specs I am now second guessing. 
The Maestro V2 cartridge has a suggested capacitance spec of 100pF, and the Satisfy tonearm/interconnect have a combined capacitance of 172pF (1.56pF/m X 1.1m).  Does this mean that I would be nearly 1.75 times higher capacitance than the suggested spec of the Maestro V2 before the phono/pre even enter the picture?  Maybe I am overlooking something?  Specs are attached, any info is appreciated.  Thanks

Offline scorpio333

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What preamp do you plan to use? Does it have capacitance settings? If so, no need to worry about the cart and tonearm wiring. You'd be able to go up or down depending on the brightness of the sound.

Another option is the Y RCA cable with resistors. I used this method awhile back when I had some Grado carts that were insanely bright for me. It's wonky, but works.

All that said, I can't scientifically answer your question about them matching up. I do think the 100 on the cart is recommendation, not an absolute.

Offline RnR

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Hey Scorpio,

Thanks for the response.  It's a vintage ARC SP-6b, no capacitance loading switches.  The manual says the phono stage is 40pF (see attached).  According to my calcs the overall capacitance would be 212pF  (172pF+40pF) vs. the 100pF recommendation on the cartridge.  I do know it just a recommendation not absolute, but I'd like to maximize performance as much as possible, so if I am correct in my thinking maybe this isn't the best cartridge for my situation?   

Offline Jim Pittsburgh

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https://www.hifisystemcomponents.com/forum/cartridge-matching-part-1_topic544.html

No worries, it will work just fine with the standard MM setting. Great cartridge BTW, I have a version two for a number of years. Best MM I had/ had ever listened to.  Nice too is that the Maestro tracks pretty heavily so it'll work very well with a CA tonearm... the don't like cartridges that track below 2 grams.
a bunch of nice sounding stuff. Nice that I'm finally able to actually listen to file music for the first time...