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Ear MC-4 Step up transformer

I recently purchased an Ortofon, P Windfield, MC cartridge and I'm having great results running it through my Ear 834p phono stage. I am told by friends that the addition of an Ear MC-4 step up transformer will greatly improve the sound. Now, I think the sound is great but they are saying the MC-4 addition will far surpass what I am hearing now.

I'm new to the MC cartridge adventure so I'm not even really sure how to properly set up this configuration.

Is there anyone here that has experience with this configuration? What impediance/gain setting would be best?
I believe the Ortofon puts out .22mv
markus1299
2 responses Add your response
prcinka
366 posts
 
there are a lot discussions about this...but from my experience the best results are with the perfect matched transformers and MC cartridge...that said, you have to find the match and it takes some time! Also it does not have to be the most $$$ transformer to give you the best match...I would go with Ortofon transformer for the W for sure...
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
The 834p uses a step-up tranny on the MC input. If your question is, will the tranny in the MC-4 "sound" better than the one in the 835p, my guess is that you would have to compare them in your system. If you do some research, you will find that the SUT-cart interaction is very much dependent on the precise pair of devices and also the cables on the SUT. One option you may wish to consider is an active head-amp or pre-preamp, like the ZYX CCP-1. I have used the ZYX w a couple of different MM phono stages and a ZYX cart (0.25 mV output) and thought it was outstanding.
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