Step Up Transformers….Are they Worth the Trouble?

Don't worry, we will be careful not to enjoy our inferior SUT's too much. I will keep in my place realizing I enjoy NOISE not MUSIC! 

@mdalton 

I appreciate the quick update. As you already know, any new additions may take few fine adjustments to get it right. So tweak away my friend! 

@mulveling 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on gain settings. They will serve as quick reference when I am ready to further tweak my system with an SUT.  BTW, have you heard of FonoLab. I am conversing with their senior chief engineer/owner on SUT options. Great exchange so far and I am intrigued by Tamura transformers :-) 

Dear @mulveling : With all respect you don’t need to be " ironic " or post that kind of " taunt ".

I know who you are and your overall high knowledge levels and I know for sure that you undersand exactly what I posted that from my part was not a way to " taunt " of any one of you but only facts. You already know that no single of your SUTs has that kind of wide FR and you know too the importance of that spec in any SUT.

Btw, the AU-1000 transformers are not silver wired and were made expressely by Tamura exclusively by Denon order. No other Tamura transformers came close to the ones in the AU-1000.

In the vintage years Tamura and Altec were the best transformers as a line models. Some of them silver wired.

R.

Several audiophiles on this " SUT's party " have any idea what I'm talking about when theyare so happy with those SUT they own that does not permits that the cartridge can shows at its best.

That's correct.

MC Step Up transformers are like candy - what flavour do you prefer.

They are not linear.

They have phase shifts.

The variations with different cartridges goes well beyond loading  (input impedance) and gain.

If you talk to cartridge designers like JCarr you will find that different core structures as well as materials mate better with some MC's and not others, even if they have the same internal impedance and output. For example - with some cartridges a toroidal MC Step Up may be preferable due to the design of the MC.

For the end user they are a crap shoot. For every cartridge you buy you would need to buy dozens of transformers to trial and find the best.

Price is no indicator and "specs" are not always an indicator as to which is best.

But at the end of the day you can't avoid the shortfalls - distortion, phase shifts.

As I said above MC Step Ups are candy, they provide a rose tinted view of the world. I have a draw full of some of the most highly regarded MC Step Up's - I don't use any.

In the vintage years Tamura and Altec were the best transformers as a line models. Some of them silver wired.

And there are a few others. I have some vintage Altec's from the 50's that have individually annealed layers within the core - that is each layer of the laminated core has a specific annealing process that is different for each layer. Those Altec transformers also have teflon inserted between the windings. There are no transformers today that approach the level of intricacy within these vintage transformers were built and wound. Altec for example I believe had some 200 staff working specifically on transformer R&D, development and testing in the early years. No manufacturer could carry that cost today.

“They have phase shifts.”

@dover

You can buy SUT with a phase equalizer option.