I have a Rothwell MC1 that boosts my Hana ML into a McIntosh MA5300 and it sounds terrific. Cost under 400 bucks. Made no sense to buy a phono preamp on top of a 5k plus integrated amp. I can recommend the Rothwell. It's a magic little box for sure.
Step Up Transformer Question
Ok, so bear with me as this is new terrain for me. I was quite happy with how things were sounding and then I accidentally bumped the stylus of my Cadenza Black and snapped the cantilever clean off. I did some research and ultimately decided to have Steve at VAS at fix my cartridge but it was going to take a few weeks and there was going to be no way to play the Christmas vinyl that my wife loves so much. She told me to buy another cartridge so we could have Christmas records. I was stunned. I found a great deal on a Winfeld Ti on this site and pulled the trigger. I've got it on my table and it sounds amazing.
After speaking with Steve though, I'm going to trade in my Cadenza and have him build me a wood body cartridge to have something different. It will also be 0.2mv output. I think I've got the 2nd arm situation sorted (gonna buy a Wand and a pod to mount it on) which leaves the phono pre. I love my Rogers PA-2 and it is switchable between MC and MM with 2 different inputs in the back. Finally got the SUT part. I've been looking and trying to figure things out. I spoke with Roger and he said the transformer built into the PA-2 is 1:10 and with that I can achieve 70 or so dB of gain. I did a lot of reading and looking and while I'm sure a 4k+ SUT is amazing that's just not where I'm at with all the other expenses at the moment. I saw the Bellari MT502 was a stereophole recommended component for many years and Amazon had one on sale for like $349 or something. Figured can't hurt to try it, it's Amazon so I can always return it. I plugged it in with some admittedly questionable interconnects I had lying around and when I put the phono stage k there was a bit more hum than I'm used to but I said let's have a listen. Holy shit. This little thing blew my mind. Better impact, tighter bass, more space around instruments so better staging, improved transients. This puts me in an interesting place.
This is an extremely inexpensive piece and it has changed my system quite a bit. I think the little extra gain I get even at 1:12 brings the cartridge to life. My question is where do I go from here? Bob's makes the sky 30 which is switchable from 1:15 to 1:30 which I like because I can play with the gain tubes in my preamp and potentially go to a quieter 12au7 than the 12ax7 that's currently in there. Will that be a real improvement? Less hum? Had also considered ordering a Rothwell from jolly old England but can't find much on them. Thoughts? I'd like to keep this sub 1k or so for now. Maybe I'll save up for a big boy SUT later.
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@rrc4860 thanks for that input. I was looking at the MCX which is 1:10 and a bit more expensive. Thinking there just be a higher quality transformer inside? I'll call the guy at Britaudio next week.
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1:10 is way way too low for a 0.2mV cartridge, regardless of your downstream gain. That wouldn't last a second in my system. The Bob's Devices Sky 30/15 would probably be perfect for you. I really like the sound of the Sky's and also the EAR SUTs (at higher cost for the EAR). Not a fan of the Hashimotos or (especially) Lundahls, which lack the "fullness" and flesh I adore about SUTs. I've used a Windfeld Ti with EAR MC-3 (and current MC-4) in fact, and it sounded great - much better than the Lundahl LL1931 in my VAC phono stage. I've also had CineMag 1254 (blue) in a phono stage and they are excellent for the money. Sky are better for sure, but I was still impressed by the 1254. The CineMag 3440A (red) sucks - don't even bother there. All the good CineMags have blue labels. Lundahls and CineMags end up in a LOT of other-brand SUT boxes and phono stages, so always try to figure out what is what. I try to avoid Lundahls and red-label CineMags, but it can't always be helped. The Ortofon Verto for example, uses Lundahls. Lundahls also end up inside lots of tube phono stages, much to my chagrin. They are recognizable by their rectangular case. |
I would just go with a Ned Clayton 1254 until you figure out what's what. You may find out that a SUT is not for you or not much better than the one you have. The 1254s are good and fairly inexpensive. Ned makes them with 4 settings so you can fool around with all the gain/imp. I think 1254s are a good place to start, not cheap and not way out there and good performance. Get into different cores and windings and it's an event horizon for your wallet, sucking out all your cash! SUT thread on SHF that may be useful. |
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