MC phono stage without transformer?

Bent is no longer using S&Bs for the trannies as S&B stopped shipping out their trannies to DIYers and OEM manufacturers a while back. I believe John selected Magnaquest as the new supplier. I have a feeling its still going to be a while before you see them though.

Dan_ed, glad you caught that on the Cinemag.

I have read many posts by Ralph and Raul on the subject of SUTs. I respect their opinions but would say that I have had no issues with the use of SUTs in my set-up. That being said I'm going MM now anyway, mainly due to my VAC Avatar SE but also because I agree with Raul and others here that MM cartridges are overlooked and underrated.

Bent can not get the s&B trannies any more, that's why they are redesigning the MU.

If your going to try an sut it must be a good match for your cartridge. Before you jump call and talk to someone like Kevin at K&K and have him do the math for you and make a recommendation. Many feel it is best if you can avoid having to use load resistors mabey youll get lucky and find an sut that has an natural impedance to match your cartridge. Also look at jensen they show a zobel network for the loading on their trannys and probably have something that will work for you.

I'll love to try Jensen too, but I'm not a DIYer

Im sure someone here can recommend a trannie that works well with a Skala. Theres a guy on ebay called capn bob that builds suts with a variety of different transformers you might contact him and see what he offers. The tricky part is getting the loading right as to some degree its up to your ears to decide what load sounds best.Its worth spending the time to find a good match as when its done right your cartridge can really come to life. Of course you could just get a manly pre and dial it in to your hearts content.