Overload is another way of saying clipping. A phono cartridge has a nominal output of, say, 1mV per cm/sec recorded velocity so the output is typically quoted as being 5mV. However, LPs are cut with an arbitrary level, (unlike CDs which can only ever go to 0dBFS) and according to Shure, can have levels more than 20dB (10x) above 5cm/sec. This means that the cartridge will output more than 50mV on peaks on the LP. If the phono stage has a gain of, say, 40dB (100x) then the phono stage will output 500mV on a nominal 5mV input, but has to be able to output more than 5V (100x 50mV) on peaks. If the phono stage can't do that, it will overload (i.e. clip) and distort heavily. Back in the 1970s, phono stage designers knew that, and designed the phono stages in amplifiers to have very good overload levels. From what I've seen of some modern designs, that's been forgotten, and in an attempt to get better noise numbers, the overload point is lower now than it was then.Can you please describe what "overload" is? How can I tell how much overload a specific preamp/phono pre has? I've never heard about overload so no idea what this referances.
This isn't made easier by today's phono stages being run from low voltage USB ports, or small wall-warts, whereas in the past they were integrated in the amplifier and had much higher voltage rails available, which made getting more output a lot easier.
S.