Hi Lloyd -
I think you're on the right track. You can pickup a used Mackie mixer (like a 1202VLZ) quite inexpensively, and this would give you some EQ to play with, as well. A decent preamp would likely cost a bit more and might not have EQ, but it could be argued that it would give you better quality. Given your source material, I don't see this as a big issue - and having the EQ option might really enhance the result. I am not familiar with the transformer you mention, but it's unlikely that you will get more than +6dB of gain from a transformer without running into impedance matching problems, and +6 really isn't all that much.
Have fun!
Best regards,
Steve McCormack
www.SMcAudio.com
I think you're on the right track. You can pickup a used Mackie mixer (like a 1202VLZ) quite inexpensively, and this would give you some EQ to play with, as well. A decent preamp would likely cost a bit more and might not have EQ, but it could be argued that it would give you better quality. Given your source material, I don't see this as a big issue - and having the EQ option might really enhance the result. I am not familiar with the transformer you mention, but it's unlikely that you will get more than +6dB of gain from a transformer without running into impedance matching problems, and +6 really isn't all that much.
Have fun!
Best regards,
Steve McCormack
www.SMcAudio.com