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 2 responses by twl

All that a MC transformer will do, is to boost the gain from the cartridge signal into the phono stage. If your problems are not gain related, this will not help. Sometimes if the signal is not strong enough into the phono stage, it will result in a "flat" sound. Very little life, lacking dynamics and generally shit. I found this to be the case when I put my Shelter 501 direct into my MFA Magus phono stage, in the hopes that I could avoid using my Cotter MC step up transformer. No dice. The sound was flat and lifeless, even with correct loading on the phono stage. There was just not enough gain to make the sound have life. Added the Cotter transformer,properly loaded, and ....awesome!

So, you need to diagnose where your problems are coming from. If there is an inherent problem with your components, then a MC transformer won't fix it. Then you need to change something. If the problem is just insufficient gain in the front end, then the transformer can solve the problem. Also, it will cause the phono circuit to be quieter, because the additional boost from the cartridge will require less gain from the phono stage, and gives lower noise floor.
From my experiences, 70.5db total gain in the phono stage and linestage combined will not be sufficient for a .4mv output cartridge. I am using a cartridge with the same output, and I have 86db total gain. I am maybe a little too high on the gain because I am at full volume at about 10 o'clock on the volume knob. But I think you'll need at least 80db total gain and maybe even a little more than that, for that cartridge. If it is true that the cartridge gives only .3mv, then you will need 85db total gain, because that was perfect with the last .3mv cartridge that I had on my system. From what you described, I think you need more gain in the front end.