[woodsyi]

All,
  I have spent the last few days doing research on Vinyl rigs. I need people to educate me on the benefits of low output cartridges. The PS Audio phono preamp suggested by THECHAIRGUY can only use cartridges with output > 0.8 mV.

  I wonder what would I lose if I never touch low output cartridges?

  Thanks for your time.

  barry

You save a lot of money if you never go near LOMC. 

I think you can get more out of vinyl ultimately if you go LOMC but it will cost you to get there.  So, at entry and medium level, MM will probably give you more for less. 

[TheChairGuy]

All,
  I have spent the last few days doing research on Vinyl rigs. I need people to educate me on the benefits of low output cartridges. The PS Audio phono preamp suggested by THECHAIRGUY can only use cartridges with output > 0.8 mV.

  I wonder what would I lose if I never touch low output cartridges?

  Thanks for your time.

  barry

Barry: The PS Audio unit has up to 66db of gain....that is plenty enough to drive cartridges down to 0.3mv (or more)

You might end up not getting the PS Audio unit for other reasons....but it will adequately drive quite low output cartridges in most systems.

Regards, John

[AliG]

Hey John/Woodsyi,
      I have actually spoken to Walter from UnderwoodHiFi, he said the volume control of that unit is not supposed to be used above 3.00 o'clock position, and that translate to a cartridge output of no less than 0.8mV. He told me to get another preamp if I want to use LOMC. I am looking at Audiogon right now, saw a Modwright SWL 9.0SE on sale for $1900...I'm tempted to grab it and add a phono stage, but of course it costs more money 

[lcrim]

LOMC cartridges are generally thought to provide higher quality playback.  This is not simply my opinion but a concensus.  Many in his particular group here @ Audiocircle lean in favor of MM cartridges. The costing involved is obviously much more attractive.  There are those who find the Grado cartridges, TCG is noteworthy, as being a very attractive option.  I don't happen to share those views.
Not only is the price of good LOMC carts much higher than MM cart (and I include Grado Moving iron in this category) but the signal must be amplified more and that requires either step up transformer (SUT) or a head amp to work properly.  There are those who view this as a problem.
Essentially, you need to actually hear the differences to make a valid choice.  The logical starting point would be the less costly one, should you find analog not to be a good fit for you.  I personally like the Technics 12XX line and w/o any reservations urge any newcomer to vinyl to Check out the KAB website.  The TT are easy to work with, all the setup controls are easy to work with and Kevin is dead honest and easy to work with.

[AliG]

me so lucky, Woodsyi said he would ship me his TT rig tomorrow..

Hey Woodsyi... thank you thank you.