Best SUT For Van Den Hul Crimson Stradivarius cartridge

@mijostyn currently using Cary CAD 211FE monoblocks. I also have Conrad Johnson LP260M SE monoblocks. KEF Blade speakers.

I don’t have any new experience with line stage, I’m using vintage McIntosh tube tuner/preamp mx110z, love it’s 2 MM phono inputs, so I went for a SUT to simply boost signal strength to preserve the existing phono sound.

It seems all their current cartridges are ,65mv, they must have realized the resultant limitations involved with higher .95mv. a more common 10x factor to current .65mv gives 6.5mv, some loss, say 6.0mv, high but not too much, allows preamp/amp to operate at lower volume settings!

also, .95mv needed more windings for that stronger output, thus a smidgen more weight of their internal coil, perhaps a smidgen less delicate movement, and less than common coil resistance.

you could try selling your strad and get their current Colibri

https://www.vandenhul.com/product/the-colibri/

that opens up your options significantly.

Is MC2300 a good pre-amp compared to Cary SLP05? and MC275 version VI compared to Cary CAD 211FE. One of my friends is trying to sell the pair.

Before you invest in another line stage, you need to be sure that it has more gain than your present line stage. I would suggest at least 3db or 6db more gain, and then you could do away with any SUT. I would not go with the McIntosh, but that’s just an opinion. I also notice that Ypsilon  makes a SUT with a step up ratio of five, the MC5. That would be another good solution to your problem, if you can get a trade-in on your MC 26. I already mentioned the MC10.