Cool thread, the subject of which I'm only just beginning to investigate (tried a CineMag, liked it OK but wound up returning it for tangential reasons, at least for the time being).
But while Dougdeacon has apparently long since moved on from SUTs, and I have not yet begun to load as one might say (I used no resistors, since no provision was made for adding them in the particular SUT I tried), I'd still like to ask why it requires $1K worth of what I'm assuming must be premium resistors in order to figure out optimal values? Couldn't this experimentation be performed first with cheapie resistors to get into the ballpark, and once that's done then finish coming down the homestretch using fewer expensive ones? (Yes, I do at least know that better resistors actually sound better, often much better.)
Furthermore, is it truly necessary to load both the primary and the secondary to get good sound? I would have thought, in my ignorance, that one of the benefits of going with a reasonably well-matched SUT may have been eliminating the need for adding any resistors at all. And indeed, in my short time playing around with the two ratio choices in the model I tried, I found that transformer-loading seemed if anything less critical than what I've experienced with regular resistive loading, i.e., my carts sounded happier at a wider range of nominal loads than has usually been the case going straight into the phonostage's MC section. Which is also something I've read people saying around about using SUTs in general, however you and several other obviously experienced posters above would seem to take exception with this liberal, loosey-goosey point of view...
But while Dougdeacon has apparently long since moved on from SUTs, and I have not yet begun to load as one might say (I used no resistors, since no provision was made for adding them in the particular SUT I tried), I'd still like to ask why it requires $1K worth of what I'm assuming must be premium resistors in order to figure out optimal values? Couldn't this experimentation be performed first with cheapie resistors to get into the ballpark, and once that's done then finish coming down the homestretch using fewer expensive ones? (Yes, I do at least know that better resistors actually sound better, often much better.)
Furthermore, is it truly necessary to load both the primary and the secondary to get good sound? I would have thought, in my ignorance, that one of the benefits of going with a reasonably well-matched SUT may have been eliminating the need for adding any resistors at all. And indeed, in my short time playing around with the two ratio choices in the model I tried, I found that transformer-loading seemed if anything less critical than what I've experienced with regular resistive loading, i.e., my carts sounded happier at a wider range of nominal loads than has usually been the case going straight into the phonostage's MC section. Which is also something I've read people saying around about using SUTs in general, however you and several other obviously experienced posters above would seem to take exception with this liberal, loosey-goosey point of view...