low output MC phono preamp for Audio Research pre

How are you doing my friend?

Not too bad. I'm still in an apartment too small for my system, so no real music. May have to get a headphone rig + phono to get by.

I'm still working on this pre-amp deal. Thanks for feeding me tips!

I think you are going to find a big sonic difference between your Carver pre and the SP-16 - for the better.

Do these stepup transformers affect the resulting sound quality typically in your experience, or are the better ones able to just stay out of the way and boost the signal with no ill effects?

Well, this opens up one of the great vinyl debates around here. There is one camp which thinks transformers, especially phono stepups, seriously degrade the quality of low level cartridge signals. And another, equal, camp thinks they are great when done properly.

To me, it's all about cost, ease of use, and personal preference. Whatever works best for you in your system. If you can find one of these MC transformer boxes that has ~24dB gain for a few hundred bucks, give it a try for a few weeks and see if it works. If not, it will easily resell here quickly.

Another approach would be finding something like Graham Slee's EXP "transformerless" stepup. It sells for ~$1k new and $650 used. The EXP is an active solid state circuit that has +22.5dB gain and is dead quiet. I used it with Slee's Era Gold mkV phono premap and the combination was great(tho, the Era Gold didn't have enough gain for my DL-103D).

In your setup, the GS EXP would give you 76.5 dB gain, or about 1.6V-1.7V output from the SP-16. It would all depend on the sensitivity of your MF A3cr amp. MF lists it as 1000mW, but I'm not sure what that means as most manufacturers use volts as a sensitivity.

A used EAR 834P might be a great solution - wonderful sound and should be close to your budget. A PH5 is a great unit but even used will be past your budget - but is defnitely better than a PH3SE -which is pretty good but maybe not as musical as the 834P. If the 834P has enough output for you it is worth seriously considering.

Hello , I 'm using a Dynavector Te Kaitora cartridge with the ARC PH 5 , not enough gain , so I built in a stepup xformer of exellent quality , Jensen ( ARC have used them in their REF phono).The result is super.Perhaps if possible you can built in this xformers in your SP16.
Greetings from the Netherlands Hans

The latest from my dealer is that it looks like I would need to add an outboard device to the sp-16 for the Denon DL103R.

He has access to a second hand Electrocompaniet step-up device of some sort for not too much that he thinks could work well. I'll most likely be trying that out with his sp-17 in his shop shortly.

If that doesn't pan out, I see several options from this thread that look like it could work, so thanks for the info.

Here's an update.

I'm running the new Audio Research sp-16 pre with a separate Electrocompaniet mc-2 step up pre that I acquired second hand for not much from my dealer.

I've only listened to a few lps so far but this new setup is working well and sounding great so far... a clear step up from my Carver c-6 with built in phono prior.

Phono level closely matches other input levels and there is plenty of gain and no problems with noise levels as long as the Electrocompaniet is not located in close proximity to external power supplies.