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Do I need a sut?

I purchased an Ortofon MC2000 cart from a fellow A'Goner, it is very low output .05mV, my phono pre is a Herron VTPH-2 which has 69db of gain and my pre is a Herron VTSP-3a(r02) 14db gain.
The cart sounds wonderful, but with such a low gain I have to turn up the volume by quite a lot. If I had, another source at that volume, I wouldn't be able to stand it. With the volume turned up so high I get a fair amount of noise between tracks. 
Should I be looking at an sut or just live with it the way it is? I found an Ortofon at a decent price, it has 24db of gain. Would that be ok to go into the mc input on the VTPH-2? The mm gain is 48db, if I plugged it in there I would only gain 3db(if I'm doing my math correctly) I will also be contacting Keith, but I thought I would ask here too.
Thanks
Jeff
jdodmead

Showing 2 responses by hdm

hdm
1,075 posts
 
http://www.ebay.es/itm/332504231804?rmvSB=true

Not sure of the overall quality of the specific transformer, but a reasonable price and should be an almost ideal match in terms of gain (28 dB) along with the 48 dB from the Herron MM input. 
hdm
1,075 posts
 
Depends on the gain calculator you want to use. ;)

In multiple systems over the years, I've found the KAB calculator to be pretty much dead on and it suggests a phono gain of 76 dB for a .05 mV cartridge. 

FWIW, using line level gain in the calculation is foolhardy in most cases IMO (with the exception of pretty unusual systems-those with passive preamps would be one).

Users of fixed gain phono stages or a combination of a fixed gain stage combined with a fixed gain head amp or SUT will never realize how absolutely critical gain matching is because they do not have the ability to adjust gain "on the fly" or have infinitely variable gain available. With a high quality stage with infinitely variable gain, one can realize just how critical and narrow the optimum gain window really is and how 1-2 dB variances in gain can be substantial in terms of performance with low output MC's. And how it can actually even vary from record to record, depending on how they were cut, if one wants to take it to audiophile nervosa extremes

Line level gain only serves to amplify further what the cartridge/phono preamp has sonically "created"; if that is not "correct" one is just further amplifying problems and the mismatch, (unnecessary noise, possible overload issues etc.) It cannot magically correct for either too little or too much gain at the cartridge/phono pre interface.

Plus the Herron MM gain is relatively high at 48 dB and the T2000, while it was designed to be used with the MC 2000, was probably designed with a much more traditional MM stage in mind, probably one offering a more typical 38-40 dB of MM gain. 

Hence my recommendation of the Ortofon SUT above with lower gain. I'd be trying that at a reasonable price first before shelling out a couple of grand for the T2000 and very possibly having too much gain and a pricey piece of equipment to resell. Then again, I'm a cheapskate. 


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