cartridge output voltage

[OMBgodfather]

Hey there everyone. Im trying to find a replacement cartridge for my micromatic s600. Im not having very much luck. Mine has 132 stamped on it and from the various searches ive done i think that means an ev132 cartridge which cannot be found. i have seen other cartridges like an ev158 and others that LOOK the same but have different output voltages. What is the difference/point of different voltages and do i need to take into consideration that im using this turntable to replace an older L600 turntable.
Thanks for the help.

 

[fhawk618]

The output voltage of the cartridge determines the amount of gain required from the phono stage to adequately amplify the phono signal to line level into the preamp. The higher the output voltage, the "louder" the signal will be, as is requires less gain to bring the signal up to line level. A lower output voltage will result in a "lower" signal, requiring more gain from the phono stage to bring the signal up to line level into the preamp.

If the two carts are relatively close in output voltage, you should have no issue, the volume level will just be slightly different. If they are significantly different, you may need to change a resistor or two in the phono stage to compensate for the voltage difference to achieve the proper output line level signal into the preamp.

Since you are already swapping this turntable in place of a different model anyway, you need to make sure that the output of the carts you are considering are comparable to the one that you are replacing anyway, since the phono stage is calibrated/matched for the output of the orignal cart of the table that you are removing.

Hope this helps...

 

[OMBgodfather]

Actually that makes a lot of sense. So since the cartridge in the old turntable can be found i can match the output voltage in the new one.

 

[fhawk618]

Absolutely... if you have the specs on the cartridge for the old table you are removing, just match the output voltage of the new cart on the new table you are installing, and you are good to go...