Best SUT For Van Den Hul Crimson Stradivarius cartridge

kanchi

lewm (and others here) know this far better than me, I’ll do my best.

you asked "what is the difference between Impedance selector and load selector?"

https://www.ebay.com/itm/KONDO-AUDIO-NOTE-AN-S7P-MC-STEP-UP-TRANSFORMER-JAPAN/123923446228?hash=item...

look at all the KONDO photos, the lower controls inside, they have pre-wired 5 different resistors each side. you simply spin the front selectors (two selectors: l/r are separate), the individually selected resistor’s loads are indicated on the face.

open/40k/30k/20k/10k/normal. Perhaps lewm can translate those front load #s to a level of understanding.

note: less costly units involving various resistors might have internal parts/dip switches/resistors ... some that need to be soldered in individually after chosen, cost saving methods whereby you do the work, avoid shipping back to OEM for a change.

the KONDO’s upper front settings relate to typical cartridges listed, 6 selectable x factors, again, perhaps lewm could clarify the numbers on the face.

I do NOT understand SUT front indicators given in ohms, my FRT-4 face shows 3/10/30/100 ohm positions. WTF? I want/need to know the x factors which are only found on the spec sheet: 35.84x/20.68x/18.27x/10.55x It is inverse, lowest ohm setting = highest x factor; highest ohm setting = lowest x factor.
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You are seeking the best COMBINATION of both signal strength and impedance out of a SUT presented to your MM phono input (typically 47,000 ohm).

Signal Strength

Your .95mv signal strength is uncommon as you know, so low x factor setting is needed, most SUTs are far higher x factors.

i.e. .95mv. x factor 5.0. Signal strength 4.75 (allow for some loss) lets say 4.5mv. I agree with you, 5x is good, 10x = 9.50mv is too strong.

i.e. allaso 6x would give you 5.7mv, some loss, lets say 5.5mv for round #s. I like that too.

i.e. my cartridge .3mv using my much larger x factor 20.68 = 6.3mv, say 6.0mv

5x or 6x? Having two arms, change headshell, another cartridge, to avoid adjusting preamp/amp volume when switching, I would choose the x factor 5x or 6x to get the closest matching signal strength of the other cartridge.
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Impedance. Even trickier.

You do need to find out your cartridge’s coil’s ohms _____?

SUT Output Goal/Rule of thumb: cartridge’s coil’s ohms 10x or a bit more.

i.e. my coil: 10 ohms 10x, goal 100 ohm or more.

SUT Actual: 47,000 divided by SUT’s x factor squared.

working backwards: allaso x factor 6 squared = 36. 47,000 divided by 36 = 1305. 1305 divided by 10 x = ideal coil impedance of 130 ohms or a bit more. what is your coil’s impedance___?

i.e. my SUT’s optional setting 10 ohm equals x factor 20.68. squared = 428. 47,000 divided by 428 = SUT actual 110 ohm (a bit more than the rule of thumb for my coil’s10 ohm 10x =100 ohm).

perfectly clear?

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all well as SUT math, but lewm’s comments and suggestions regarding equipment change/avoiding using SUT need to be seriously considered, as I say, I just got into MC/SUT a few months ago.

Kanchi, as you already know, your present SUT is a very bad match with your cartridge and phono. With a 1:26 turns ratio your cartridge is seeing 69 ohms. Thus you’re losing gain and should be experiencing an attenuated treble. But probably there are other issues causing an exaggerated treble. Would your dealer or Ypsilon maybe offer you a trade in, your MC26 for an MC10 (or even a lower ratio SUT, if Ypsilon make one)? That would be the way to go if you don’t want to alter your downstream components.

All the comments greatly appreciated.

Can you please suggest a good line stage/Pre-amp.

Thanks!!

Wow Kanchi647, there must be 1000 of them out there. How much do you want to spend? Tubes or SS? Digital or analog? Are you using an Ypsilon amplifier? Answering these questions will help us narrow it down. 

if to count on fingers we have to agree about certain numbers
if to look here into vdh specs  example
https://www.vandenhul.com/product/the-crimson/
you can see that output written like  - output voltage 0,65mV.
So measuring conditions are unknown and this figure is indicator. 
For example Ortofon writes in specs  - Output voltage at 1000 Hz, 5 cm/sec; Lyra  5cm/sec., zero to peak, 45 degrees (CBS test record, other test records may alter results). So IMO trying it at first with 1:10 SUT is very good idea, it can be that cartridge output is lower or maybe even higher - you never know...