Phono stage gain calculator

A phono stage amplifies the tiny signal from your cartridge — typically between 0.1 mV and 6 mV — up to line level so your integrated amplifier or preamplifier can work with it. Too little gain and your music sounds thin, quiet, and distant. Too much and you introduce noise and distortion. Matching gain to your cartridge's output voltage is one of the most important and most overlooked setup decisions in a vinyl system.

Moving Magnet cartridges typically output 2–6 mV and need around 36–42 dB of gain — a requirement easily met by almost any phono stage on the market. Moving Coil cartridges output far less, sometimes under 0.2 mV, and require 60–75 dB of gain. Using an MM-only phono stage with a low-output MC cartridge results in a very weak, noise-prone signal that no amount of downstream volume adjustment can properly fix.

When your cartridge outputs less than 0.2 mV, even the best high-gain MC phono stages struggle to amplify cleanly without introducing noise. A step-up transformer (SUT) passively boosts the signal — typically by 20–26 dB — before it reaches the phono stage, allowing a lower-gain MM or moderate-gain MC stage to handle very low-output cartridges with exceptional noise performance. Many audiophiles consider a quality SUT paired with a good MM stage to sound superior to any active MC stage at the same price point.

The voltage multiplier (or gain ratio) shows the same result as the dB figure in a different form. A multiplier of 100× means your phono stage takes the cartridge's output voltage and amplifies it one hundred times to reach line level. Some audiophiles find this figure more intuitive than decibels when comparing phono stage specifications — many manufacturers list both.

Loading — the input impedance your phono stage presents to the cartridge — affects tonal character and high-frequency response, particularly with MC cartridges, but it does not change the gain requirement. Set your loading according to your cartridge manufacturer's recommendations, then use this calculator to confirm you have adequate gain. The two adjustments are independent of each other.