SUT or Headamp

[Marco]

Okeydokey.

Marco.

[pimlicoquad]

Having been switching back and forth between my Ortofon Cadenza Black direct into a Whest 30.RDT and then on into a Quad 99 at line level, or through an Ortofon SUT, the ST-80E, into the Whest or just the Ortofon ST-80E into the Quad 99's phono stage I've come to the conclusion that a well matched SUT really can make a MC cartridge sing. And the other conclusion I didn't expect was that I felt the best combination was the SUT into the Quad 99's phono stage. With the Whest on its own, somehow the cartridge never came alive in quite the same way. It was very good, don't get me wrong, but the whole presentation seemed a little held back. In both cases when using the SUT, it seemed to free up the response of the cartridge across the frequency range. No doubt some will say I am just listening to euphonic distortion applied by the transformer, but whatever it is, I know I preferred it. From all I have read though, the most important thing with an SUT is to get one that is matched to the cartridges internal impedance and that will work with the load presented by the amplifier.

[Marco]

Hi Richard,

Your experiences almost entirely mirror mine, and with some of the same equipment.

Although I absolutely love my Paul Hynes head amp, and in some areas it outperforms my ST-80SE, when I switch back to the latter, I can clearly hear what its presentation has over the head amp (and it's got bugger all to do with euphonic distortion) - so I use both, depending on how the mood takes me!

At the end of the day, it's nice to have a choice. High-quality SUTs, optimally matched to a specific cartridge, will always have a magic of their own.

Marco.

[lurcher]

That would get quite close to owning a legendary Bent Sut

I thought the Bent was a tx103 in a nice housing?

[The Grand Wazoo]

I thought the Bent was a tx103 in a nice housing?

Well yes......
.....and about the same price too, when I bought mine, as just buying the raw transformers from S&B - even with the cost of them crossing the Atlantic twice. And less than half the price of the Music First unit - who says you can't beat direct selling, eh?! I notice also, that nowadays the price difference between copper and silver 103's is a premium of over 300% for the silver - about 6 times more than when I was discussing options with John Chapman and borrowing various units to try. The silver version is nice, but it's not a universally better option.

I thought the Bent was a tx103 in a nice housing?

...but no!
.....with the Bent Mu the nice housing isn't just 'nice' - it's the way it is for good reason. The walls of the cylinders are 1/4" thick mu metal, the S&Bs are sitting in and on a layer of sorbothane. Unlike the Music First unit, there is no switching to get in the way of the signal and the loading is done via bare resistors clamped between binding posts.