Step Up Transformers….Are they Worth the Trouble?

VAC

It is much easier to make a transformer. I even made my own using top of the line Sowter cans. I could never make an active phono stage. I have placed Sowter cans inside preamps with MM phono stages with decent, but not spectacular results.

VAC has never made a head-amp, to my knowledge. Their phono stages have always used Lundahl SUT’s for MC gain. I think they recognize MC gain using tubes is a very bad idea, due to noise and the difficulty of tube selection. And SS isn’t their thing - closest they got was a tube DAC (the DAC chip being SS) which was discontinued long ago.

EAR made a head-amp unit "The Head" which is discontinued and hard to find used (and sought after by some) - supposedly very good.

Hagerman makes their head-amp "Piccolo", now in voltage and current mode flavors. VERY good sounding for the money (cheap), though the voltage mode units aren’t the lowest in noise floor (that’s their weakness). They made many prior iterations of their voltage mode Piccolo, going back many years now. I just recently learned Hagerman once made a short run of SUT boxes with the Stevens and Billington TX103. VERY nice transformers, hard to find / obtain now. The Bent Audio Mu used this same transformer.

It’s easy to stuff SUT cans in a box. It’s not easy to manufacture the transformers themselves - i.e. windings and (especially) core laminations for units with laminated cores (Lundahl's amorphous core models do not use laminations).

@mijostyn  : AR, VAC and MAC use SUTs ( passive not active designs. ). In that list I can add: Parasound, Levinson, Boulder, Gryphon, D'Angostino.

" It is much easier to make a transformer ", yes way easy but audio phono stage manufacturers do not build the SUT, they buy from different SUT sources. So way way more easy to design a phono stage with.

R.

@rauliruegas don't forget Constellation! 

@dogberry I have several BluRay and DVD operas and my system doubles as a theater. Believe it or not, excepting rare theaters like Teatro alla Scala Milano, I actually prefer the sound at home. This is a common occurrence with Rock shows. The acoustics in most of the venues these occur in are awful and the sound at home is better. Seeing the show and the Opera especially are key. Operas and plays were that period's motion pictures, the visuals are very important. You know for certain Carman was just murdered by her lover when you see it. What torments Pagliacci so at the end of the opera?

@lalitk Be careful what you wish for. It would be nice if you could make that comparison before spending your money. There are many of us here that not only won't use a SUT but also shy away from tube phono stages. Myself and @rauliruegas are examples. Perhaps others will chime in. 

“There are many of us here that not only won’t use a SUT but also shy away from tube phono stages.”
@mijostyn

And there are many who do use SUT and tube phono….to each their own, right! Your point well taken on not committing to spend before I vetting the components in the analog chain.

@lalitk That is true. Now I am going to be politically incorrect.  You have to look at the demographics. Many of us have tube preamps with an onboard MM phono stage. Most of us are price sensitive and we are going to take the least expensive path that is acceptable. The popularity of Hana moving coil cartridges is a good example. Adding an SUT is the least expensive way to add moving coil capability. Having said this there are some mighty expensive SUTs out there and I have heard some mighty fine systems using them with great results. I still think these systems would be even better with a SS phono stage, but you are talking much more money and in some cases crazy amounts of money. There are units now like the Channel D Lino C 3.0 which are insanely good, A+ good, that cost less than $5000 and they will accept any MC cartridge. SUTs will not. They have to be designed for the impedance of the cartridge within just a few ohms or the performance will be unacceptable. The SUT I have was designed for very low impedance cartridges. Mine works well with the Lyra Atlas SL but sounds awful with the MC Diamond and Hyperion MR. The safest way to go is to purchase SUTs made by the same manufacturer as the cartridge and if you go with a cartridge by another manufacturer make sure they match within a few ohms. This is not the the step up ratio, 1 to 10, 1-20 and so forth.