Eros and head amp gain

[John Swenson]

My Eros kit just shipped and I'm thinking about the best gain setting for my head amp. I'm using a Haggerman Piccolo head amp which has adjustable gain and want to set it properly for best results with the Eros. I have a MC cartridge with a 0.4mV spec.

I currently have a Seduction and have the Piccolo set to 20dB gain and that comes out just about right. Since the Eros has more gain I've been thinking about where the sweet spot will be. The Piccolo has very low noise so it seems to make sense to use it for as much gain as possible, but I don't want to put the Eros into a range where it has higher distortion.

Any thoughts?

I know, build it, try everything and listen, but I would love to know where the tradeoffs of input level and distortion for the Eros might be.

Thanks,
John S.

PS thanks Doc for putting this on sale, you finally pushed me over the edge.

[Doc B.]

Seduction gain is about 40dB with the C4S installed, about 36dB without. The Eros gain is about 50dB. So maybe try a 10dB setting on the head amp if 20dB is working with the Seduction. If it seems OK try sneaking it up a bit. The distortion comes in when the EF86 stage overdrives the 6922, so you don't want to get too enthusiastic with the head amp.