I cannot hear , see or measure anything resembling overload problems on my Parks Audio Puffin at MM gain 40 and MC (0.35mv) at 61.. ( sweeps, test record track or music show no clipping when recording digitally extreme vinyl level in the worst test track requires lowering gain by 7db). I have checked a see that the clipping detector on Puffing works correctly. -Any signal peak above 2.11volt out gets a clipping flag- ..
And it is dead quiet, hard to tell if my Hifi is on or not at full volume and ear 1” from the speaker cone.
So I suspect this overload concern is something that shows up in technical test situations ( I do not doubt Amirms test plots) , but the significance in my real life system is not there really.
Technically I struggle to see the benefit of sending a 10V signal from RIAA with massive overload capability to an amplifier that gives rated output at 0.3volt and clips at 2V….
The noise level out of my Puffin is -84db or less relative to 2.11 volt at 61db gain with MC cart on. Few records has a vinyl noise better than -50, the lowest I have on a mint test record is -60. So any RIAA better than -80 for MC is good enough for a good listening experience I think, I do not like to hear any hiss or rush or grunge when the stylus is off the record . In my system a hav an an extra 10db gainin preamp to level with the CD input giving a total MC gain of 70db, and it is dead silent(1”from speaker cone) on any listening level. Noise performance is not a problem in my system .
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I am writing this just to let people know that what could appear as a problem really is not, Maybe Parks did something smart in the implementation..
