Cotter Comparisons

I have owned and heard the Cotter phono stage (active), they are so-so. Perhaps good in 1960, but not any more in 2007.

The transformer, however, is a different league, they are still very good even with modern cartridge in modern system.

I liked it better than some used units I was exposed to at the time:
ARC SP9, PS Audio 6.0. Those were probably dated also. I do realize that the Cotter is 1979 technology.
Extreme: did you here the phono stage with the CM2, or solo? Also, did you know the phono stage had a higher than normal (47k) input impedance that caused MM's to sound not so good?
Thanks for the responses..
D

Yes, had the complete system 3 pieces in total (power supply, phono eq, amplifier stage), and MC is hooked in through the Cotter Step up. For record, I also owned 2 versions of the Cotter step ups. The "L" version, as I heard, was not as good as the standard T version when used with typical 5-ohm cartridge (Koetsu).