Dan, at the level of equipment you are talking about the difference in transformer vs. active starts, or probably has long been, a matter of taste. We're talking here about boosting a MC up so a CJ PV10A can use it, not replace the pre with a mega-buck phono stage. I've owned one and the CJ is a great pre for the money, but it isn't practical to mate your suggestions to a $700 preamp. Transformers are the only practical solution.
AND, loaded on whiskey or not, quality step up transformers do not lose any detail vs. an active stage. On the contrary, at some point the lowest level signals from the cartridge fall below the noise floor of the active input stage and are therefore lost. This doesn't happen with a transformer.
AND, loaded on whiskey or not, quality step up transformers do not lose any detail vs. an active stage. On the contrary, at some point the lowest level signals from the cartridge fall below the noise floor of the active input stage and are therefore lost. This doesn't happen with a transformer.
