Hiss on Phono

[f1eng]

Hi Frank,

Thank you for your recommendation for using a SUT with an MC cartridge. The noise floor is really low and I hear next to no hiss even with my ears close to the tweeter.

My cartridge is an Ortofon MC Quintet Black with output voltage specified as following: Output voltage at 1000 Hz, 5cm/sec. - 0.3 mV
I had a slight hiss when I used the MC stage of Devialet. So I got a step up transformer, Ortofon ST-7 so that I could use the MM stage of the D200. 
The gain of the SUT is Gain: 24 dB at 1 kHz and Recommended load of 47 kΩ // 200 pF
This gives excellent performance however I wanted some help on the setting I should aim for. If I set the load to "high" the noise floor as indicated by the meter on the D200 is > -80dB and I also get clipping (red dot blinking) on certain records during dynamic passages. So I have set the load to 460ohm which ensures there is no clipping and the noise floor is between -90db and -80db . But with the max voltage level set to around 4.4MV (which is the equivalent of 24dB voltage gain on 0.3mV) the volume level of the Devialet needs to be cranked up high (> -10dB on the volume indicator) for quiet records for normal listening. So I have set the max voltage to 1.8MV which results in a normal listening level of -20dB for most records.

What is the preferred setting- Keeping the max gain high and cranking up the volume or keeping it low? Thanks in advance!

Best regards,
Sandeep.

For a level frequency response the load definitely needs to be set to high. I am using an Ortofon A90 and ended up with voltage level set at 7.7mV to avoid clipping on the LPs I checked it with. That is over double what I had expected, unlike digital max recording level on LPs is not a fixed quantity!

I have a background noise level of around -80dB with these settings, and about -60dB on the run in groove of a clean LP.