MC phono stage without transformer?

Dear Raul,

"Dear Ron: As I posted I made a little of research on your audio items just to " imagine " what are you hearing but for what you told here your music/sound reproduction is far from what I can " imagine ", good."

To this posting I can only say, that I which to have your imaginary abilities. It would save me a lot of gas money while going for audio exhibitions or friends, since I could imagine the sound from my listening chair by getting the specs via email...;) sorry for my not so serious comment...

"Ron, I'm sure that you are enjoying your system's performance and maybe what I posted could help you to think and try to improve it."

Thanks for your advice ;)

" My experience suggests that, at an "affordable" price point a step-up transformer makes sense. " +++++

IMHO more than " make sense " : " you have no choice ".

I would rather say the opposit is the case...if you have to meet a affordable price region you have to go for a SS or even integrated circuit desing instead of a good step up...but thats my personal opinion. Some people even say that step up transformers came out of fashion when transistors could have been used with much reduced costs...

Re: RIAA accuracy, although it is true that between room interactions and speaker inaccuracies most systems exhibit gross deviations from flat, the mastering process, not to mention tracking and mixing, typically involves tweeking the EQ as little as .2dB. The fact that most systems editorialize the engineer's work doesn't, and shouldn't, stop us (engineers) from working our art at whatever resolution we are inspired to.

Dear Piedpiper: That's right.

Anyway we can't do nothing about because we don't have any " control " on the recording process we can do things where we have some " control " on it and that is from the very first moment that we take a LP to play with it not before.

IMHO everything the same the more accurate system have a better quality performance.

I make " focus " on the RIAA accuracy and in the amplifier output impedance that IMHO has to be lower than 0.1 Ohms.: this " figure " give us confidence that almost any speaker electrical impedance curve can be handle with out any trouble on frequency inaccuracies ( mistmatch between speaker an amplifier. ), this means synergy and synergy in the right sense of the word not the " synergy " that many " professional " reviewers speak about like: " to use this amplifier you need a " warm " speaker ..., or " you need a soft high frequency amplifier for this speaker ", these kind of examples speak nothing about real synergy but trying to hide a " trouble/distortions " with another kind of " distortions/colorations ": incredible but this is the way those reviewers give us advise about synergy with out to find where are/is the main trouble for that system behaivor!!!

I don't like to accumulate distortions/colorations over distortions/colorations and the like.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Here we go. Raul, I disagree with you on amplifier output impedance, because an output Z of 0.1 ohm is usually achieved by using gobs of negative feedback, which introduces distortions across the entire musical spectrum that are far more objectionable than the imagined result of speaker frequency response anomalies due to higher output Z. Moreover, the goal you set eliminates most tube amplifiers. I think the amplifier/speaker interface is VERY crucial to accurate audio reproduction, but I don't think one should approach the problem by setting any arbitrary "rules" regarding impedance. If I could do it, my "rule" would be that all speakers must have a flat impedance curve at about 16 ohms across the audio spectrum, but it ain't gonna happen. In summary, your rule for amplifier output impedance raises a bunch of additional questions for debate.

"...I don't think one should approach the problem by setting any arbitrary "rules" regarding..."

This is what this whole thread has become about. In this relative world we live in there are simply no absolutes. At the risk of this becoming an absolute, having first accepted this, we can have inteligent discourse about the effective relationships involved. I think that Lewm's impedance "rule" is a perfect example. Many of the norms in speaker design that have become acceptable are at least as compromised as deeming transformer use in phono stages acceptable. Having said that I think that Raul's point re: the implied messages to the industry we endorse is an excellent one.