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MC phono stage without transformer?

A newbie question:

I read a lot of 'reservation' about using an external MC step up transformer to increase the gain of an MM phono stage. But as I searched around for MC phono stages, I noticed that a lot of these actually have internal step-up transformers, some of these transformers are exactly the same as what some people used to make their external step-up.

So if transformer is no good, I should really be looking for an MC phono without the tranformer? Do these exist though?
viper_z

Showing 2 responses by dgarretson

dgarretson
2,615 posts
 
The thing that puzzles me in all of this is in absolute terms, how much performance can be obtained with a very low-output MC cartridge that requires a step-up transformer and/or a high-gain transformerless phono stage, as compared to a medium-gain MC cartridge that's happy with a wide variety of medium-gain tube phono stages. All things being equal in the phono section, are .1-.3mV MC cartridges inherently superior to .4mv and higher cartridges, more cost-effective, or both?

As an aside, the best medium-gain MC cartridge that I've had in my system is a .5mV Helikon. I'm curious whether a high-gain transformer-less phono stage(with say 70db gain) can achieve similar or greater performance with a relatively inexpensive cartridge with output in the .2-.3mV range.
dgarretson
2,615 posts
 
Doug, my question arose primarily because of the many posters to AA Vinyl Forum who are enamored by relatively inexpensive LOMC Denon and Dynavector cartridges in combination with inexpensive Cinemag step-ups. Though I have not tried such combos, I'm curious whether they represent a free lunch relative to higher output cartridges through all-tube phono sections with moderate gain.

Closer to SOTA, the question comes down to whether very LOMC are best served by step-ups, or by one of the few top SS or hybrid phono stages that can provide circa 70db gain.
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