darkest_error wrote:Nice.. DIY's of Sir Jon. Tailing down really improved the sound, better channel separation and image plus modifying the capacitance loading value beyond manufacturer's recommendation. I used 270pF instead of the 400-500pF recommendation of the M44-7 without experiencing annoying sibilances. By theory, increasing the loading cap tend to cut down some highs making the sound a bit muddy. How about you guys, have you tried modifying your loading cap values? Also had the same observation?
Its all about the stylus rake angle, and each type of cartridge has its own SRA. Thus, notice that even if I use the same tonearm, when I use the Koetsu, its tail down, but when I use the Denon, its a tail up.
As for the loading, yes, I did play around with the loading years back when I was still using MM Carts. Some carts like their loading high, some low. I remember my loading for the Grado was at 10K and 100 Pf. While it may be an exact science, the table computation just serves as the baseline, and final tweaking is still done by ear.
There's a discussion here regarding loading.