MC step up transformers - grateful for some advice

[horace]

Well,the Tube Tech Unisis has cemented its place in my system and I'm unboxing my LP12 tonight. Can't wait...

Now, the Unisis has an mm phono stage (whichI have yet to try). The specs say the input sensitivity on the phono stage is 0.8mV. My current cartridge is a linn troika (output 0.1 or 0.2mv, depending onwhere you get your info....).I will try it, but its outputseems very low to be going into an mm stage.

Options: Either get a step up transformer oranothercartridge with higher output. I do have an AT OC9 in my spares box. its output is 0.5mV, so I might get away with that.

TBH, I'm a big fan of the troika (I like it so much that I bought a second as a spare) and would like to keep it. Selling the spare one (and perhaps the OC9 ass well) would give mesome funds to put towards a step up transformer, so that mightbe the way to go.....

Unless.....

Iwill try the OC9, as the output is only a little short of the 0.8mv needed by the Unisis. if that works out, so much the better, but how about the option of a high output mc? The Dynavector 10x5 at about £250 seems well regarded (as are the Denons, butI don't know if these would work wellon an ekos).

Budget will be around £200-£250 ish. More ifreally necessary (I don't know anything about step ups,so have nothing to go on regarding quality/price ratios etc).

What doyou reckon? - which step ups (new or used) should I consider? And cartridges? Any other options that I have yet to consider?

Cheers

Martin

[griffo104]

Horace,

May not answer your questions but some good reading regarding step-ups.

http://stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/1007listen/

[Gromit]

Martin- having owned a Noteworthy Audio Stepnote transformer for the past month or 2 I can heartily recommend it. A very neat little box which comes in at £200 new.

This in combination with the Puresound P10 works very well indeed - significantly better than the Dynavector P75 I had before (itself a bloody good phonostage).

[Papa Lazarou]

You'll be amazed how much extra drive is possible with a decent step-up.

[horace]

griffo104 wrote:

Horace,

May not answer your questions but some good reading regarding step-ups.

http://stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/1007listen/

Excellent link!

Cheers

Martin

[horace]

Gromit wrote:

Martin- having owned a Noteworthy Audio Stepnote transformer for the past month or 2 I can heartily recommend it. A very neat little box which comes in at £200 new.

This in combination with the Puresound P10 works very well indeed - significantly better than the Dynavector P75 I had before (itself a bloody good phonostage).

Right on the button budgetwise, so onto the shortlist it goes.

Cheers Gromit

Martin

[i_should_coco]

If you can solder about 8 wires together, this might be interesting:

http://www.hificollective.co.uk/kits...te_stepup.html

[ultrawomble]

Rothwell Audio do one also http://www.rothwellaudioproducts.co....ansformer.html

[geofff]

You could also try Definitive Audio. Kevin used to make a Living Voice transformer, since discontinued because he had so much trouble making them, but he may have one available.

[Papa Lazarou]

geofff wrote:

You could also try Definitive Audio. Kevin used to make a Living Voice transformer, since discontinued because he had so much trouble making them, but he may have one available.

He certainly has a few still available, I bought one just a couple of weeks ago.

A very good transformer, it'd take serious outlay to buy better.

[PAG]

i_should_coco wrote:

If you can solder about 8 wires together, this might be interesting:

http://www.hificollective.co.uk/kits...te_stepup.html

good price.



I`ve just slapped on an Audio Note ANS2 on the Ear 834, and the sound is farkin` brilliant. Step ups are definitely the way to go imo.

[Dik Dolan]

http://wduk.worldomain.net/acatalog/AmpKits.htmlBottom of this page.

Same stepups as the audionote kit as used in the WD phono3, if you want to source your own case andsockets etc.

[i_should_coco]

Dik Dolan wrote:

http://wduk.worldomain.net/acatalog/AmpKits.htmlBottom of this page.

Same stepups as the audionote kit as used in the WD phono3, if you want to source your own case andsockets etc.

Wow! Good call.

[horace]

i_should_coco wrote:

Dik Dolan wrote:

http://wduk.worldomain.net/acatalog/AmpKits.htmlBottom of this page.

Same stepups as the audionote kit as used in the WD phono3, if you want to source your own case andsockets etc.

Wow! Good call.

Thanks - would soldering these into a case with sockets be simple? I can solder, but circuit diagramsand the like are beyond me.

So, what other bits wouldI need and how much would they cost?

Cheers

Martin

[goomer]

I don't think there are any circuit diagrams to follow, you just have to connect up the colour coded leads to the correct terminals. If you have a look at the link to the AN step up kit, there is a pdf of the build instructions on the left hand side of the page which gives an idea as to how complicated it is.

Cases are readily available from places like RS, Farnell or Maplins, and you'd only need a case, 2 pairs of RCA sockets, a ground terminal lug, some wire, and you're there. I think there's only like 5 solder connections to make (plus any extras you might need if you had to load with resistors), so you'd just need to pick your step ups and away you go. Sowter make some nice transformers, too:

http://www.sowter.co.uk/

If you do it, take pictures along the way and let us know how you get on.

Chris.

[Dik Dolan]

Goomers post above sums it up, maybe a couple ofcapacitor mounting clips to fix the stepups to the case.

[Marthas dad]

Martin - get a s/h EAR Transformer MC3 stepup - and you wont look back

[horace]

Papa Lazarou wrote:

geofff wrote:

You could also try Definitive Audio. Kevin used to make a Living Voice transformer, since discontinued because he had so much trouble making them, but he may have one available.

He certainly has a few still available, I bought one just a couple of weeks ago.

A very good transformer, it'd take serious outlay to buy better.

Sounds promising - care to give me a hint as to the cost?

Cheers

Martin

[horace]

i_should_coco wrote:

Dik Dolan wrote:

http://wduk.worldomain.net/acatalog/AmpKits.htmlBottom of this page.

Same stepups as the audionote kit as used in the WD phono3, if you want to source your own case andsockets etc.

Wow! Good call.

Cool - I've had a look at the instructions for building the Audio Note kit and I reckon I could manage that without too much difficulty, so......

Basically £300 for the AN kit or half that for the transformers alone (from World Designs).I can't believe that a box, some sockets, wires etc will cost £150, so that might be the way to go.

Now, where wouldI source a nice box with a bit more bling than the standardbentpowdercoated metal type?

How much would a ready builtstep up deviceof similar quality toa diy one like thisset me back?

Yeah, I'm ready to start soldering!

Cheers

Martin

[i_should_coco]

Just to confuse you some more, it's possible to buy all the Audio Note step ups loose:

http://www.hificollective.co.uk/comp...ving_coil.html

They go from £57 to £800 for the transformers used in the top of the range AN-S8. I'm not sure which ones of these (if any) are used in the kit, or whether they're a completely different type.

For your original budget, the AN-S2 look good, silver ones start at £170 each.