Moving coil transfprmer?

I have had many transformers for low output moving coils: Cotter, Denon, Techniques, Auditorium, AudioNote, and Neumann. I have always hoped that I would find a phono stage with enough gain to not need either a transformer or a head amp prior to the phono stage. I have had success with all but the lowest output cartridges, which are the ones I find best.

I don't agree with Dougdeacon about the Cotter. I traded mine long ago to a guy in Japan for the Techniques 304 amorphous metal transform. He was happy and so was I. I have found the old Neumann that I won on Ebay to be the best I have heard, but that is with my Shindo cartridge and may be different with other cartridges.

Armstrod, if this is directed to me, I have never even heard of the Monolithic.

This is the seamy side of moving coils. I have owned many active headamps, includingthe Klyne SK-1, and I have had transformers that do give you optional loads, but the best yet is a phono stage with enough gain. The problem is very low output cartridges, which are always the ones I prefer.

With a sensitive enough amp, my H-Cat P-300 phono and P-12R line stage gives me enough gain to even allow a 100 ohm load. The key is an amp with such sensitivity.