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MC Transformer or phono stage - help anyone?

I am seeking the sage advice of all the vinyl experts. I have a Benz ruby 2 on an Audiomeca romance arm and turntable. I run it through the moving coil section of my Musical Fidelity Nuvista M3 integrated. The cartridge is medium output (.4 mV) and while I am happy with the sound I suspect the phono stage is the weak link of my system. I notice the bass to be a bit weak particulary lower notes. Does anyone have comments on what sort of improvement adding in either a good moving coil phono stage or transformer would have (little or large). If so which would you recommend (stage or transformer and brand)? I have tried to read up on this but still end up quite uncertain. My price range is uncertain - I would say what would I have to spend to see a reasonable difference. I would hope somewhere between 1-2,000 but less would not be bad. Options I wondered about were the Benz stage or the 47 labs phono cube. The rest of my system by the way is listed. The room is a large one (18 X 40 with cathedral ceilings and I listen to mostly classical and jazz, but some rock as well. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gary
gajgmusic

Showing 3 responses by kleech

kleech
130 posts
 
I just installed an old "The Head" stepup (precursor to the EAR MC-3) between my 0.6 mV Koetsu Red Standard and CAT Ultimate pre. Just a fantastic improvement with more dynamic and tuneful bass among many other things. This brought back what went missing from my analogue when I swapped out a Rowland Coherence One for the CAT last year.

If you have a lowish output MC and an all-tube phono stage (with a few exceptions) a stepup or head amp would likely be the way to go. This will likely "open up" the sound considerably, reduce any tube noise that the phono stage may generate, and allow you to keep the gain knob at roughly the same position for line and phono sources thereby avoiding nasty surprises when switching between sources.

I have no first-hand experience with the NuVista M3; I think it has a tube preamp section. Also, depending on how it is measured, I think the Ruby 2 cartridge output is closer to 0.3 mV. I suspect a stepup WILL give you what you are looking for. Go for something basic first and just remember to plug it into your MM (not MC) phono input.
kleech
130 posts
 
By the way, optimal impedance loading for the cartridge at the stepup is usually different from that at the preamp. You will have to research what this is for your Benz and shop for your stepup accordingly. The stepup likes to see 47K at the phono stage (ie MM).
kleech
130 posts
 
A good tube phono stage with a step up is sonically the best way to go imho. Since you already have a decent phono stage built into your M3, I'd not let it go to waste by acquiring an outboard phono stage which might not even sound as good. I might consider switching over to the higher output version of the Ruby before doing that!

My Koetsu likes a 25-40 Ohm load at the step up so I would not be surprised if 40 Ohms is optimal for your Benz...you could confirm this with a dealer. The reason I mentioned this is that someone recommended an Ortofon transformer which work best with Ortofon cartridges and offer input impedance of 2-10 Ohms which might not be suitable for you.

I would check out the EAR MC-3. It offers 3 selectable input impedances including 40 Ohms. This lists for $995.

Ken

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