MC Phono Amps Rega vs Music Hall vs etc...

I got a HANA MC cartridge for my Rega Planar 3 and love the sound, but it's a bit quite and I think I need an MC phono amp. Is there much difference between the Rega MC at $495, the Music Hall mm/mc at $195, or other ones under $1000?

I have a Music Hall 15.3 amp into Wharfedale Diamond 220s at the moment but want something that will perform when i upgrade to my dream Walsh Ohm 2000s and Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum eventually. Thanks!

 

The Rega Fono MC stage is much nicer. On any stage that is around the $100 - $200 price point with just a push button setting for MM / MC, the loading will be fixed at 100 ohms and the noise floor is typically higher. Most of the really nice sounding MC stages are going to be at or above the $1k price point, but there are a few that are decent between those price points such as the Rega Fono MC.
-Bill

 

I'm guessing you are looking at the Cronus Magnum II. The Phonostage has been significantly upgraded from the Mk I. I would look actually look at a Lounge Audio MC Step Up Amp and just use what you all ready have. It's $270.

 

Thanks for the info vinylontubes! The Lounge Audio sounds great as it seems that I could adjust the levels to avoid the issue KT88 described above.

 

If you don’t currently have a phono preamp for MC, it would seem you must have the high output Hana cartridge. If that’s the case, a phono preamp for MC would probably have too much gain and might lack suitable loading options.

 

So do i not need one then for the MC if it is high output? Is anything needed for it? It sounds good now, just not quite as loud as my old MM.

 

The usual thing to do with high output MC is to run them on MM phono preamps. It’s true that it won’t be as loud as most MM cartridges on the same phono preamp. Generally, there’s nothing you need to do, although some people adjust the load the cartridge sees by adding resistors in parallel with plugs on splitters. Some of the better phono preamps are highly adjustable, so different gain and load settings can be accomplished with switches and knobs.

 

Exactly which Hana cartridge do you have?

 

Hana EH, I guess I misunderstood and thought all MCs needed a MC phono amp. thanks for the clarification!

 

Nope. As Bob has pointed out above, high output MC's (which the EH is) are designed to be run into Moving Magnet inputs with a 47K input.

If you look at the sensitivity spec on your Music Hall 15.3, it actually has pretty high gain for a MM input in the area of 45-48 dB. The Hana has a 2 mV output and, although not a perfect match with that input it is very close.

So close that a higher output moving magnet cartridge, particularly one with 5 mV or more, would have a very high possibility of sounding inferior due to overloading the phono stage on peaks.

You probably now have a cartridge that is actually a much better match with your phono stage than the MM you were using before. That you need to turn it up a bit more is perfectly natural and fine.

So turn it up and don't worry about it, with the exception of training yourself to turn it down after listening sessions in case your next session is digital. That input will be much louder, which is perfectly normal.

And thank Bob again for saving you some money!

If you do look at upgrading to an external phono stage in the future, you're best to stretch a bit to get higher performance and, very importantly, to match the cartridge that you are using, or expect to be using, to the phono stage in terms of the cartridge's output and the phono stage's gain, as well as, to a lesser extent, the loading or capacitance capabilities of the phono stage depending on whether you are using MM or MC.

 

thank you so much for the detailed answer! would this cartridge work well for the rogue audio cronus magnum ii if I upgraded to that?

 

It appears that the new Cronus Magnum II has 44 dB of gain at the phono input. If you can confirm that is the case with Rogue, it should in theory be a perfect match with your Hana EH.

But bear in mind that your Hana is a bit unusual with its output (high output MC's are typically around 2 mV) and if you went back to a more traditional MM the Cronus might not work as well.

And it would not work well at all with low output MC's which typically have outputs less than .5 mV and different loading requirements.

 

The Cronus works wonderfully with any MM cartridge, MI cartridge, and HO MC cartridge. I have used many different cartridges with their amps, Mk1 and Mk2 versions and there is never any issue with gain. You simply have to turn the volume control a bit more to get more output from a HO MC cartridge on any amplifier.
-Bill