Step Up Transformers….Are they Worth the Trouble?

@vuch @lewm  is absolutely right. With the 12AX7s gain is 68 dB which is way more than enough. If you do not like the way it sounds you are looking at a different cartridge or phono stage, not a SUT.  Tube rolling will drive you insane. My suggestion is not to get started. Like @rauliruegas I am not fond of tube phono stages excepting some AR units and they are hybrids. The color of the tube stages covers up the characteristics of the cartridges. If you do not like what you are hearing it is 90% the phonostage, 10% the cartridge. My personal favorite phono stages are Parasound JC3+ followed by the Channel D Lino C 3.0 and then the more expensive Channel D units. The Lino C 3.0 gets a Stereophile A+ rating.

You actually like the JC3+ better than your Lino C?

@lewm @mijostyn 

A strong choice or preference for a component in a system is only an indicator that component works well with rest of the components and to user liking.

A manufacturer design their components to be universally acceptable in an application it is intended for, yet we pick brand a, b or c driven by our preferences for certain sound characteristics and affordability.

When someone makes a recommendation, I always try to find out what kind of sound they gravitate towards and rest of the components. This approach has helped me tremendously with a my current setup..and i absolutely love the way my audio system connects me to music. 

@lewm The Lino C 3.0is a much better phono stage than the JC3+ it is also 3 times as expensive if you load it up with all the same features. I do not have a Lino C. I have a Seta L Plus. It has a much wider bandwidth and costs three times as much as a similarly equipped Lino C 3.0. 

@lalitk That connection is a moving target and depends more on your mood just as much as the actual performance of the system. Many if not most systems overcompensate for some characteristics at the expense, even absence of others. That overcompensation usually depends on which characteristic the user cherishes most. A common example is too much midbass. The person likes bass but his system does not go all that low so he manages to adjust his system or select components that over cook the midbass as a compensation. 

What do I prefer? Accuracy. Accuracy in tonal balance, timbre, detail and imaging along with the lack of distortion, accurate transient response and dynamic capability. Go to a small jazz club like the Blue Note or Birdland in NYC. You want your system to sound like that. Go to a Hall like the Boston Symphony Hall and listen to Beethoven's 9th. You want your system to sound like that. Tall order. How close can you get? Close enough depending on how much money and expertise you can throw at it. If your system connects you to the music in a way you like I suppose you are all set. My problem is I never look for what is right, only what is wrong. The problem of creating an incredible system is a challenge to be conquered. 

Mijo, Sorry, based on your phrasing I thought you might be saying you preferred JC3+ over whatever Channel D you own, which didn’t make sense.

Note here that I refrained from making the obvious joke about turntables needing to be “well hung” (per Mijostyn).