The Benefits of a good step-up transformer...

[Puma Cat]

Dan,

Here's what Bob said about using the SUT with my Shelter when I inquired back in 2010. For reference, I am using a Cinemag at the 1:16 setting. I use the 1:30 with the Koetsu. Unfortunately, no mention of capacitance. Whatever, it sounds really, really good.

Hi Stephen,

The 501 mk2 has an output of .4mV and is happiest with around 100 ohms according to 10Audio. Its internal impedance is 12 ohms which typically means that you would theoretically want at least 120 ohms. The Ear 834P has a MM phono sensitivity of 2.2 mV and I do not recommend going over 10 mV for fear of overloading.

A 1:20 step up would give you 8mV and 118 ohms where a 1:16 would give you 6.4mV and 184 ohms. I have matched this cartridge with both the CineMag and Sowter with excellent results. The Sowter at 1:20 is the best match at a cost of $850. The CineMag at 1:16 is also excellent at a cost of $395.

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Dan....since your dealing with a MC cartridge, capacitance is no issue even with a SUT in the mix.....only with MM cartridges capacitance becomes an issue.

[Puma Cat]

Thanks, Jeff for clarifying...I thought that too, but wasn't sure. My understanding is that impedance matching is the key thing with MCs. My guess is that Dan's Ortofon Candenza Black might sound mighty good with the Ortofon SUT.

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Impedance and voltage gain are key things to look at.....The Ortofon Verto and St-80 SE were designed to use with the Cadenza, Winfield, SPU, A90 cartridges.

[jdandy]

Stephen.......

Jeff.......

Thank you for the information. The Ortofon Cadenza in my first MC cartridge. I have never before used a step up transformer, so I am a bit of a newbe on the care and feeding of moving coils.

[1KW]

Somehow I missed this thread until now. I have been using 200 ohm loading on my C2300 with the Shelter 501 MKII with excellent results. I have not tried using a step up transformer. The MC phono stage in the C2300 with the Gold Lion tubes sounds very very good. Dan you will find that the Gyro SE with a good MC cartridge with the built in phono stage of your C2300 will sound atleast as good as your best CD's on your MCD500.

[1KW]

This would make a nice avatar

[restock]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

My phono stage is an EAR834P MC, which means it switches in some built-in 10X transformers when you depress in the moving coil button. ...

For those of you using high-gain MC phono stages, consider using the MM section of your phono stage instead with a good step-up transformer...you might be very pleasantly surprised how much better a good SUT can make your moving coil sound. Highly recommended.
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Step-ups should be matched to cartridges, and depending on the cartridge one step-up may work better than another.

For my Allaerts MC1B I bypass the step-up in my Shindo Monbrison and use an A23 step-up transformer. On the other hand, for my Lyra Delos the step-up in the Monbrison works so much better. The Allaerts is a high impedance cartridge and the Lyra very low in impedance - stepups should match accordingly.

The Cinemag (Bob's) is a great start - however I think there are step-ups with even more resolution out there, e.g. Bent, A23, Kondo, etc. It's worth trying to find out which one matches your cartridge best.

[sibelius]

For those folks with a Koetsu cartridge, I would strongly recommend trying the Hashimoto based SUT from Choir Audio. I have used or auditioned the following other SUT's:

Cinemag
Sowter
Altec
Lundahl (Internal SUT from my Shindo preamp)
Auditorium Hommage
phono stage from EAR 834P
Silk

The Choir Audio SUT-H7 was my clear preference with the Koetsu. It's an extremely well built SUT and even better it comes with a 30 day home trial.

[restock]

I heard good things about the Hashimoto - are you using the H or H7 version?

I think Koetsu recommends a step-up with 1:10 ratio which is what their own step-up uses. Have you tried the Auditorium 23 (DL103 version) which is 1:10?