Quote Originally Posted by Jack in Wilmington View Post
I'm a little confused. The only MC cartridge that I've heard was a Sumiko Blackbird and it was called a "high output" MC cartridge as there was also a "low output" version available. Is output and compliance two different things? I only got back into vinyl a couple of years ago and a lot of the terminology is new to me.

Think of compliance as a suspension. A low compliance cart will have a stiffer suspension and need a heavier arm. A high compliance cart will have a softer suspension and need a lighter arm to perform best.

Output in moving coil cartridges are determined by how many turns of wire and power of the magnet. A low output MC will have fewer turns of wire and therefore can only generate a smaller signal. Having less wire creates a lower mass generating system said to trace the grooves better with maximum information retrieval. The more turns of wire in a high output MC add mass to the generating system. More mass can reduce amount of information retrieved.

Compliance/suspesion is the springs and struts of the cartridge and the output is the horsepower.