SUT help

SUT's that are a match to a Cart' are not all equal in their ability to impact on the end Sonic.

On previous occasion within this forum, I have made it known different Brands / Models / Transformer Types used for DIY Builds are able to create the perception of a Rich Tone.

The scale of Rich Tone can be perceived from a Hint of Rich, through to a very loose overbearing Lower Frequency Bloom.

From experience of use I am Wed to SUT's that I perceive as being almost lean, a Very small hint of Rich end of the scale.

A Head Amp is able to be perceived as being Lean and I do like these in use as an alternative presentation.

As Rich Tone can easily become a detractor and unwanted, have you an idea of how much of a Rich Tone you would like to be exposed to during your listening periods ? 

@lewm Thank you for that - nice and simple! Makes total sense. The only reason I've wanted to try one out is to see if it will improve soundstage width/depth. I love the Modwright stage and the MC input is very nice, but I've never tried a SUT, so curiosity is getting the better of me!

@pindac From what I gather, you're referring to a warm vs neutral vs bright/analytical? I usually prefer close to neutral. Musical without being too warm and muddy, but also without being TOO bright and analytical to where it can cause listening fatigue.

Considering my setup is almost all tube, with SET amplification, I need to stay away from adding much coloration earlier in the chain.

Oh - two others that have been mentioned to me in the past:

1. Sound Tradition Live MC-10 (but I don't believe these are still being made?)
2. Sculpture A mini nano

I have a Modwright with the XT upgrades and use a Hashimoto HM-7.

I haven't checked it against the MC side since I did the upgrades but before it seemed to expand the soundstage some.  I think you mostly use a SUT to bypass an active gain stage.

The Lundahls in the Modwright are on the inexpensive side and Dan told me he chose them mainly for low gain since the PH9.0 already has tons of it.

Honestly I run the Hashimoto (1:15, PH9 at -6) mainly because I've always used them, back to my Darlington Labs days.  I'm betting there are tons of happy non SUT Ph9.0XT users out there!   I think if there's any difference it's small and nuanced would depend on the rest of your system and the cart.

I do like the extra gain sometimes as I do have some low, low MC carts. I don't run a pre and go  straight into my amp (2A3 set).

If there is any improvement, again I think it would be small and it depends on you whether or not it's worth it.

@theflattire I think the Sound Tradition Live MC-10 uses HM-7s, but not totally sure. I can't find any info on it as far as if they are still made. The only pre-made SUTs I can find with HM-7 are Swissonor and they're something like $3300, which is a bit crazy. I do not have the equipment or skills (or confidence to not screw up) trying to make one myself.

I'm not expecting any earth-shattering improvements (mostly everything I'm doing with my system involves small tweaks) but if I end up with a notch up in performance for around $1000-1500, that's fairly cost-effective versus many other upgrades and tweaks!