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Hagerman Trumpet MC review

Disclaimer.  This is far from a “scientific” evaluation.  Just my personal experience on my system.  See my other threads for a system outline.

The Hagerman Trumpet replaces a JLTi v.3 that has been my phono stage for about 15 years now.  So went from solid state to tubes.  I won’t go into detail on either as the specs are available online.

The Trumpet runs 4 12ax7 and 2 12au7 tubes and since it relies on the tubes for input, gain, phase splitting and output, it is a tube rollers dream.  Right out of the box even with stock tubes (4 Mullard ax7 and two EH au7 reissues) it blew the JLTi away.  Soundstage was wider and deeper with a more 3D presence.  There was more separation and definition between instruments, more “air” and timbre was more accurate.  It was not a small change, even in my far from perfect room.  Vocals were more natural and there was less “smearing”.  A pet peeve of mine is when instruments get up and walk around the stage, especially apparent in classical music.  The JLTi did have the upper hand in a couple of areas, it was quieter, and faster (attack and decay/transients), but not huge advantage for either of these.  The JLTi got a lot of high praise from the usual crowd when introduced, so this is no small feat for the Hagerman which, if inflation is factored in sells for about 1/4 to 1/3 of what the JLTi v3 would sell for now.  There was also less “hash” with the Trumpet, but still some there.  Then I rolled in some nice old tubes.  Au7’s are Mazda “pinched waist” from the 1960’s, in the v2 sockets are a pair of Mazda nickel plates from the late 60’s and in the v1 are a pair of Siemens long black plates from 1960.  What a difference, soundstage goes way beyond the speakers, you can really hear the hall in classical or live recordings, extended FR, just all around more.  Hash is gone, though this may have been a burn in issue.  In short, I would highly recommend giving this pre a try.  It is truly amazing and the customer service is exemplary.  If there is anything I missed or you want to know, just respond.  

oceanica
rivinyl
139 posts
 

Question for the tube rollers.

Do the 12 AX7's need a match quad?  or just a two matched pairs?

The 12ax7's are getting a bit pricey

baldhead_growler
2 posts
 

Hi y'all, chiming in late on this thread, but I'm currently considering buying a Trumpet.

I'm curious if any of you have been running an MM cart on the Trumpet MC. The lowest setting of 48 db of gain seems like too much for most MM carts, especially my favored one, the Ortofon 2M Bronze (5mv output). (I've used MC carts in the past, and they can be wonderful, of course, but at this point in my life I've pretty much settled on MM for my system, for lifestyle/pragmatic reasons.) Maybe the Trumpet design allows for sufficient overload and headroom, and high gain is not an issue?

I'm wondering if I should opt instead for the Trumpet MM version, which has a more reasonable 44 db of all-tube gain (and 50 pf capacitance instead of 150 pf) and excludes the JFET headamp stage. Or perhaps I should just get the Cornet MM instead ... is the Trumpet overkill for an MM cart?

Any thoughts? Thanks very much in advance.

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
2,125 posts
 

Hi y'all, chiming in late on this thread, but I'm currently considering buying a Trumpet.

I'm curious if any of you have been running an MM cart on the Trumpet MC. The lowest setting of 48 db of gain seems like too much for most MM carts, especially my favored one, the Ortofon 2M Bronze (5mv output). (I've used MC carts in the past, and they can be wonderful, of course, but at this point in my life I've pretty much settled on MM for my system, for lifestyle/pragmatic reasons.) Maybe the Trumpet design allows for sufficient overload and headroom, and high gain is not an issue?

48dB is fine for MM as long as the stage has enough overload margin. Yes I've used it with an Ortofon 2M Blue, and it sounded fantastic - really good pairing actually, since the Ortofon benefits from the Trumpet's warmth and body. You'd be fine with the Trumpet MC here.

OR you could purchase the "MM only" version to save 100 bucks AND it forgoes the JFET stage, which is used as a 0-gain buffer in the MC version's 48 dB setting (i.e. it's not bypassable). So the MM version has a cleaner signal path for MM carts. The MM version is also what you'd want to use with a SUT, if going that route for MC cartridges. 

Just for comparison, there are some high-end phono stages with even higher MM gains: Audio Research Reference 3 is 52dB XLR / 46dB RCA, and Pass Labs XP-17 is 56dB XLR / 50dB RCA. 

baldhead_growler
2 posts
 

Thanks so much for the quick and thoughtful response. Glad to hear that 48 db would be OK for a 2M Bronze, and interesting to see those other stages with even higher gain. 

Yeah, I'm trying to decide between the MC and MM version of the Trumpet.

I like the idea of the flexibility of the MC version, though realistically, as I said, I think I'm going to be sticking to MM carts for the foreseeable future. 

On the other hand, I like the purity of the MM version's signal path, and if I did change my mind and decide to use an MC cart at some point, I could just get a SUT or head amp (the ones Hagerman makes look interesting). I don't love the look of the empty/plugged controls on the MM chassis, though to be fair, I haven't really seen a good image of the MM version. It definitely seems less popular, or at least less discussed and photographed.

Do you have experience with the Cornet MM as a point of comparison?

Thanks again for the guidance.  

pryso
1,965 posts
 

@oceaniac, thanks for your review.  I too am a bit late in finding it.

It was particularly interesting since I've listened to a JLTi for several years myself.  Mine is I believe version 2, the last before moving to Austria.  However while they maintained at the time a wall wart was perfectly adequate, a friend built a fully regulated outboard power supply for mine which certainly upped the performance.

So while I've been content with my JLTi +OPS, your comments are intriguing.  Now I plan to contact Hagerman for more information, including comparison with his Achiever.  I only have a few 78s but do have many early LPS (pre about 1970) and have read several labels failed to adopt the RIAA by 1967 or so.

If my JLTi +OPS can be upgraded for such a reasonable amount I'm certainly interested.

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