Step Up Transformer

@lewm sure, everything is a personal call. And I did say 'in my experience', didn't I? In contrast Raul always presents his opinions as the Gospel, so I figured a contrasting opinion wouldn't hurt.

@edgewear Your Statement, "But in practice things might work out differently. In my system I have the possibility to choose between various SUT’s, voltage gain and current gain devices and some cartridges have a clear preference for the use of an SUT in the signal path. Others definitely do not, it all depends.

I realise this is pretty much a useless answer to the OP, were it not for the fact that in my experience Ortofon MC’s tend to have a liking for SUT’s."

I read this as the Cartridges referred to having a Clear preference for a SUT' as being more akin to my own experience.

I can use a Cart's with a few options on how to send the signal generated.

I don't rest with one option only, I know how I like a sonic that is produced, as well as knowing how the devices work with different genres of music and how the sonic produced can impact on my mood at the time.

On a Weekday evening the Hashimoto, has a sonic that can keep me in the chair quite docile.

On the Weekend during an afternoon, the Cinemag, will get Air Guitar / Drumming kicked off with almost a immediacy.

I also have a Built In MC Stage and it presents quite satisfactory, I am keen to use it when I want to have the other benefits it offers when worked with. 

@pindac I recognize the ’flavour of the day’ argument, which is why I ended up with more cartridges than strictly necessary and various tonearm and amplification options. After reaching saturation point with record collecting and satisfaction point with the audio system, the ’hobby’ aspect is now restricted to cart rolling. From personal (okay lewm?) experience I’ve learned that some combinations stand out, sometimes when you least expect it to. The sound has an intrinsic rightness, as if there’s some kind of electric handshake. In my system(s) the Ortofon cartridges I own behave like this every time I connect them to an SUT.

From personal (okay lewm?) experience I’ve learned that some combinations stand out, sometimes when you least expect it to. The sound has an intrinsic rightness, as if there’s some kind of electric handshake. In my system(s) the Ortofon cartridges I own behave like this every time I connect them to an SUT.

@edgewear 

Several cartridges, phono stages, tonearms here too (LOTS of headshells and arm wands on hand) -- and what you've written really gels and resonates with my experience! Without a SUT I perceive Ortofons as dry, lean, and lacking passion. With a SUT - they're still not a Koetsu but sometimes really surprise me and "hit the spot". The Windfeld Ti is probably my most "hot and cold" cartridge, but for last session at least, it was very hot!

The Blue Lace on FR64S is my unimpeachable Reference. It's always, consistently great -- so it's not knocked about by the ebb & flow of my transient preferences and moods. The various Benzes, Shelters, Ortofons, and other Koetsus are constantly undulating up & down in rankings (relative to each other) with my affections. There's always ONE of these that makes me think "I like this as much as the Blue Lace!", but it never lasts for long lol.

Did not mean to offend anyone. Just trying to make a point about the subjective nature of these decisions. It seems the OP has chosen a SUT. One hopes he will be happy with it, and even more than that, it will be interesting to learn how he  likes it compared to his high gain phono stage for sound quality with his cartridge.