Increasing a Low output MM

Mind you, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, no? I have two low output MIs (0.4mv and 1mV), and prefer them both through a SUT rather than the MC input of my phono stage.

Hello, doggy, but this is an MI with an output of 2.4mV.  Which has commensurately higher induction than either of your cartridges are likely to have, since for an MI, votage output is proportional to inductive property, and again, the total gain into the MM phono stage would almost certainly be overload the input.  Those were my points. Sheesh!

Go and eat that pudding, if you like.

I guess if you could get someone to build you a SUT with a 1:2 or no more than 1:4 turns ratio, that might work. But I think it would be as costly as acquiring a different MM phono stage with more gain.

I shall, thank you. I was replying to your statement:

Second, the SoundSmith cartridge is an MI type, not an MC type for which SUTs are most suitable.

You are, of course, correct that a 2.4mV output would be increased far too much by a typical SUT, but I can't let the suggestion that MI cartridges of any output are unsuitable for an SUT stand unchallenged.

I did not say that MI cartridges are universally unsuited to a SUT. True low output MI cartidges (let’s say <1.0mV) will still have about 100X more inductance than a LOMC of similar signal voltage output, but of course they can usually be mated to a SUT. In the case of SoundSmith low output MI cartridges, I would seek the advice of Peter Ledermann. (What privately puzzles me is the attitude of some, not you, Doggie, that one ought to find some way to use a SUT in the phono signal path, on the notion that SUTs are in some way magical.) High output MI cartridges, like B&O MMC1 and MMC20CL, Acutex LPM320, and etc, are among my favorite cartridges ever.