montesquieu
30-03-2015, 23:00
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/TX103%20SUT/S_and_B-1_zps4c93c87c.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/TX103%20SUT/S_and_B-1_zps4c93c87c.jpg.html)
Directly following on from my SUT bake-off, my S&B TX103 step-up is for sale. The Hashimoto HM7s have turned out to be a perfect match for my Miyajima cartridges, and so this wonderfully musical, detailed and dynamic step-up is for sale.
It's a true swiss army knife of step-ups, assembled by Graeme 'Valvebloke'/'Ampregen'. It has four step-up ratios:
1:20
1:10
1:6.5
1:5
Each ratio has an option to be used open, or with one of three loading resistors, giving a total of 16 gain/loading options. I've yet to find any cartridge it can't be made to work with.
It contains the famed TX103 transformers (huge things with giant cores, bigger than some amplifier output transformers, and as stated above four winding taps for different ratios), now only available in Music First's own kit (current retail £1920), though they were previously supplied Bent Audio and occasionally to home builders, who often set them up with just one or two ratios connected as it's a very complicated build to do it properly. Mine is wired in the same way as the MFA setup, with same ratios and loading resistors, so performance should match the factory version. The rotary switches used to select the relevant windings and open/loading settings are very high quality and the SUT/bypass switch used is same as the ones Audio Note use for their SUTs, with silver conducting surfaces. All in all great care has been taken in putting this together.
In my setup this replaced a Kondo era Audio Note S6c (retail around £6,000) and I didn't feel cheated in any way - it's musical, detailed and has tons of drive, while I found 1:20 was plenty enough gain for 0.2mv cartridges in my setup. Quite a few people have heard this in my rig and been impressed.
These come up so rarely that it's hard to price, my source transformers + the parts and build cost add up to quite a bit, while as I say very few are executed to be equivalent to the factory arrangement. It's offered at £750 collected, plus £20 for insured courier if shipping is required. The only swap I'm interested in is a Keith Monks-type RCM to which I could add a bit of cash if necessary.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/TX103%20SUT/S_and_B-2_zpsb1e7c4df.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/TX103%20SUT/S_and_B-2_zpsb1e7c4df.jpg.html)
Directly following on from my SUT bake-off, my S&B TX103 step-up is for sale. The Hashimoto HM7s have turned out to be a perfect match for my Miyajima cartridges, and so this wonderfully musical, detailed and dynamic step-up is for sale.
It's a true swiss army knife of step-ups, assembled by Graeme 'Valvebloke'/'Ampregen'. It has four step-up ratios:
1:20
1:10
1:6.5
1:5
Each ratio has an option to be used open, or with one of three loading resistors, giving a total of 16 gain/loading options. I've yet to find any cartridge it can't be made to work with.
It contains the famed TX103 transformers (huge things with giant cores, bigger than some amplifier output transformers, and as stated above four winding taps for different ratios), now only available in Music First's own kit (current retail £1920), though they were previously supplied Bent Audio and occasionally to home builders, who often set them up with just one or two ratios connected as it's a very complicated build to do it properly. Mine is wired in the same way as the MFA setup, with same ratios and loading resistors, so performance should match the factory version. The rotary switches used to select the relevant windings and open/loading settings are very high quality and the SUT/bypass switch used is same as the ones Audio Note use for their SUTs, with silver conducting surfaces. All in all great care has been taken in putting this together.
In my setup this replaced a Kondo era Audio Note S6c (retail around £6,000) and I didn't feel cheated in any way - it's musical, detailed and has tons of drive, while I found 1:20 was plenty enough gain for 0.2mv cartridges in my setup. Quite a few people have heard this in my rig and been impressed.
These come up so rarely that it's hard to price, my source transformers + the parts and build cost add up to quite a bit, while as I say very few are executed to be equivalent to the factory arrangement. It's offered at £750 collected, plus £20 for insured courier if shipping is required. The only swap I'm interested in is a Keith Monks-type RCM to which I could add a bit of cash if necessary.
http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/x440/montesquieu61/TX103%20SUT/S_and_B-2_zpsb1e7c4df.jpg (http://s1181.photobucket.com/user/montesquieu61/media/TX103%20SUT/S_and_B-2_zpsb1e7c4df.jpg.html)