SUT help

interesting theory…. this straight wire transformer…… i shall notify all those transformer engineers they have been doing it wrong all these many years…. except for @atmasphere …who for some crazy reason has worked very hard building amplifiers that….. ahem…. eliminate these perfectly transparent components…..

If you think this hysterical…. just alter the spelling…. slighlty….

lewm

not quite, I can compare MM with or without the SUT, I can only hear LOMC via the SUT.

""My different MM Cartridges, their differences similarly heard passed thru SUT or direct to mx110z’s MM Phono as above.

MC, the story is the same when listening to mine or friends (who are familiar with my system’s sound), theirs’s sound ’essentially’ like they are used to, the sound they preferred, not any noticeable alteration."

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LOMC, I don’t know what my LOMC AT33PTG/II sounds like except the combo of FR SUT and McIntosh mx110z Phono RIAA EQ. Same for my AT33PTG/II LOMC Mono cartridge. My confidence that the SUT is not altering the Cartridge’s sound is from playing several of my friend’s LOMC cartridges here.

theirs’s sound ’essentially’ like they are used to the sound they preferred, not any noticeable alteration."

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Get thee a tonearm with removable headshell, get thee some friends, get thee a true Mono Cartridge, get thee two tonearms, alternate ready to go!

I noticed, the ModWright has a rear switch: Stereo or Mono, which I suppose is like a Stereo/Mono switch on a preamp with that feature. It’s a feature loaded Phono Stage, I’d like to hear it here!!!!!!!!

Just as the OP said, SUT discussions are like drunken sailors, but remember, they get where they are going, usually.

@elliottbnewcombjr @lewm @mmcgill829 Here is something you all might want to consider. Audio transformers of all types make distortion. If they are not loaded properly they will make more distortion but you can never make them distortion-free no matter how well they are matched to the system in which they are used.

This is because of something called the 'hysterisis curve'. With a simple sine wave the distortion can be fairly low, but since the curve runs through all 4 quadrants, when the signal is more complex the distortion will be far more complex as well, meaning you get more than just a simple 2nd harmonic!

Its unavoidable if you use a transformer.

Put another way, if you don't want to color the sound, if you want to hear the music with the least amount of distortion, avoiding a transformer at the input to the audio chain is probably a good idea (if you have enough gain otherwise); there is no way to reduce that distortion downstream as it compounds from stage to stage.

You can debate the 'sound' of the transformers all you want but that 'sound' you hear is in fact the distortion of that transformer. If you like the sound of a certain transformer that's fine; its good to know that distortion is why and that it may not be so benign as signal level increases. Distortion obscures detail in addition to modifying the harmonic structure of musical instruments. So if you want the most out of your analog investment dollars, this is something to consider.

Thx Ralph… hence my play on words….