Or loading without SUT gives you a wider range of adjusting/ tailoring the output sound.
Natural Sound
- Thread starter PeterA
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zyx universe doesn't work well in the sme 3012r unless you use a heavy headshell over 12 grams so that you have about 20 grams of arm mass. if you don't feel like experimenting then the opus 1 is the better choice. but they sound totally different a zyx universe is a more honest system in terms of sound colors.
P.S
this statement refers to zyx with boron cantilever.
I heard a number of ZYX cartridges at Black Forest Audio…mostly on the Voyd Reference or Voyd Valdi Turntables with Helios arms. I thought they sounded very natural with Kondo preamps.
With its MM input a SUT can be used on the Lamm LP1. I have run higher output MC carts straight into MM.
The vintage Ortofon one is excellent with the SL15. I’m very happy with the higher output internal one in the LP1 for the Colibrí. Do you have a suggestion?
I have had very good results with copper EMIA transformers which can be ordered with pretty much any stepup ratio you want. I have not liked silver EMIA transformers as much although many people prefer the silver.
In my system I prefer a few selected vintage transformers over the EMIA. I now use Audio Innovations T2 transformers hard-wired in a 1:25 configuration. Audio Innovations was an English company that made several transformers back in the 1980s.
Audio Note-UK and Audio Note-Japan (Kondo) made very good sounding SUTs over the years although the ratios are more limited.
Yes, that's correct. The internal defaults work well for me. With a total of 60dB on the LP2.1 MC input, the Jensen JT-44K-DX transformers (+20db) are very good, within a fraction of the quiet of no transformer. There is the option to have +30db. The LP1 offers two MC inputs for total gain of 60dB and 70dB. The load remains the same.
I've had or tried several ARC phonostages (Ref 2, 2SE, 3), including owning the Ref 10 Phono for several years. These allow a range of loads from 50 to 1000 ohms plus 47k at the touch of a button on the remote, so it is simple to hear the difference between them. Fun to experiment though eventually I found it more fiddling than truly significant to the sound, at least for the cartridges I own. Outboard SUTs - usually with a fixed value -- along with an additional set of cables are something I've not yet felt compelled to need.
This feeling is even stronger with heavier tonearm mass.
Even using silverbase to make the Zyx heavier ,only works to a limited extent.
The pressure on the mass spring system of the cartridge is too low with medium-weight tonearms it works not optimal
On the subject of failure rate, I have never had a Zyx that had a defect ,the same high quality as Dynavector.
P.S
If you prefer a warmer sound, you should listen to a Transfiguration Temper W. Once you've tried it, you'll want more of it, just like with good wine or good food. In the end, it's always a synergy of the individual components.
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I think I have one of those. Too bad they're gone. The Orpheus was a wonderful cartridge.
I am quite familiar with the Jensen JT-44K-DX used in the LP2. It was my first MC stepup and I used it for several years as an outboard SUT. The 1:10 stepup ratio makes it compatible with many cartridges and, as I noted earlier, transformers are actually rather flexible in terms of cartridge loading. That said, the EMIA stepups are a significant improvement over the Jensen.
Thanks for that. I see others recommending the EMIA. What would I expect to hear differently with the EMIA stepups versus the Jensens?
That’s a fair question and I will be happy to answer it, but not for a week or two. The last time I hooked up the Jensens was 5 or 6 years ago, after getting the EMIAs. I compared them several times as the EMIAs broke in, concluded the EMIAs sounded better and I haven’t gone back to the Jensens since then. It’s been too long for me to recall any details. Back when I did the comparison, I had the Jensen output cables hard-wired to the transformers. Since then I removed the cables to use elsewhere so I need to install some output jacks on the Jensen box to do a fair A/B comparison with the EMIA and my Audio Innovations stepup. I have been meaning to do that anyway so it’s no trouble. Once the jacks are broken in, I will post some follow-up comments.
Lucky guy, I didn't like the sound at the time, it wasn't spectacular enough for me, so it had to be Lyra Titan i or Miyabi Standard. You had to be able to smell the gunpowder smoke at 1812 in the room.
Today I see it completely differently.
P.S
if you want to reactivate the temper w I recommend the silvercore 1:20 for SPU amazing synergy..top match
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The consolidated audio Silver is quite better than the Kondo (which is silver), and better than consolidated copper.
I have now bought Tim Parvacini's The Head. It was made to be the best SUT at that time and there are people who have preferred it to other vintage ones like Western Electric 618a, Partridge etcusing carts like Dava, Neumann DST, and Analog Technik DST. I will try to compare it to Phasemation shortly. Will also send it to Audioquattr to try on Dava.
For anyone who is interested, after my compares are done (which will take a but of time) I will sell it (along with a Tango 999 I have with WE cabling in an Yamamura case). They are not expensive by consolidated or slagle silver standards.
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@tima I ran into a problem. This morning I connected a new set of output jacks to my Jensen SUT box, and only one channel works. The connections are very simple and the transformers have always worked fine in the past so I don't know what could be wrong. I will look at it again in a few days and try to figure it out. If I get it working again I will compare the Jensens to the EMIAs and post a follow-up.
Several points to consider:
The loading is for the benefit of the phono section; it has no effect on the cartridge other than making the cantilever slightly stiffer. A LOMC cartridge makes RFI due to it being an inductor in parallel with the capacitance of the tonearm cable. If the phono section has troubles with the RFI, it will make distortion (brightness). The loading resistor detunes the electrical resonance that causes the RFI. But if the designer of the phono section took the significance of an inductor in parallel with a capacitance (electronics 101, first week) into account in the design of the phono section, then you'll hear no difference with loading and the stock 47 KOhms will be fine- plug and play. When you see a front panel switch or the like with low resistance values for 'cartridge loading' it simply means the phono section as designed is prone to RFI issues at its input.
The loading at the output of an SUT has an enormous effect on the sound of the transformer! If not loaded correctly (and the correct load will vary with the source impedance of the cartridge) then you really can't compare the 'sound' of a transformer to another! Once the loading issue is dealt with then you can. If the load impedance is too high the SUT can 'ring' (distort) which will cause it to sound brighter. If the load impedance is too low the SUT will roll off highs. IOW you want something called 'critical damping' where the load impedance perfectly damps the transformer; that varies with the cartridge since transformers transform impedance and that goes both ways; transformers isolate DC but not impedance.
FWIW Jensen makes two higher end SUTs above the JT44; the JT346 and JT347. If you're comparing Jensens (arguably some of the best made anywhere) to other transformers you really should start with one of the latter. Jensen publishes a pdf file that shows the correct loading for nearly any LOMC cartridge.
SUTs can block the RFI otherwise caused by LOMC cartridges. I think that's one of the reasons some people prefer SUTs over phono sections that can work direct-in. I find if the RFI issue is solved in the phono section direct-in is more open and detailed with deeper bass and the like.
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