Kinda hard to get excited about doing this now that the T-needles seem to be impossible to get. What are people doing about that? I saw that Victory is occasionally selling a new-build cart that can take the yellow needles, but you also have to add some sort of box between the tonearm and amp input (or replace the tube amp). Seems a bit Rube Goldbergesk. And who know how long the yellow needles will be around. I see you can’t buy the mono redhead stereo compliant needles either, so seems like there will be an awful lot of Seeburgs available cheep soon - just no easy way to play records on ‘em. Thanks, -steve.
On Feb 15, 2026, at 2:54 PM, js cimmeri.com via Jukebox-list jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com wrote:
You don't need another wire from the cart to the amp. Think "1/8W resistors" tied directly to cart and then to each other.. or mounted under the tonearm with 2 fine wires to the resistors, and original line from resistor network output. This can be done in a very compact way.. Someone might have an even better way to do it.
The amp should be at 47k, but 39k, makes no difference.
On 02/15/2026 2:58 PM EST Steve Swaine steveswaine100@gmail.com wrote:
Thanks! Yeah, if I do that then I’d have to wire up another line from the tonearm down to the amp, so I’ll probably fall into the “most people don’t do that” category - at least for now! But might consider if I get back in there for something else later.
So to be sure I got it - I would wire the each channel through a 10K and just leave the amp with a single 47k resistor to ground (replacing the original 10K that was there fo the original blackhead cart). Did I get that right?
Any advice for the next best alternative if I only mod the amp and not add the second stereo feed from the tonearm? Should I just go with the 39K that was there from the stereo mod?
Thanks, -steve.
On Feb 15, 2026, at 1:33 PM, js--- via Jukebox-list jukebox-list@lists.netlojix.com wrote:
Ok, so for a moving-magnet cartridge, the load resistor dampens the inductance of the coil. Lowering the resistance dampens the high-frequency resonance more, which means slightly reduced output and a slightly darker top end.
Some cartridges are more sensitive to this than others.
So what should it see? Ideally, you want the mono-summed cartridge to still see 47kΩ total.
To do that, just as with audio cables, you don’t hard-tie the channels together.
Instead you sum them through resistors:
L ----[10k]---+ +---- mono out → 47k phono input R ----[10k]---+
Most people don't do this, but if you want to do it right, that's how you do it.
-J.
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