The ugly duckling of the analog world gets a chance to morph in to a beautiful swan. By Steve Graham Features and prices: -Uses Swedish Lundahl LL1931 amorphous-core transformers -Coils wound with high-purity copper -Two switch-selectable gain settings -Configurable grounding to minimize hum -Rhodium-plated Cardas RCA jacks -Solid silver DH Labs wire (connecting jacks to board) -Available with Lundahl LL1941 transformers for very low-output cartridges -Transformers available wound with high-purity solid silver wire ($$$) -Standard Transformer version: $600 US kit, $650 US assembled -Transformers wound with silver wire: $1,500 US assembled http://www.kandkaudio.com/moving-coil-phono-step-up-kits/ Background: If you’re new to the phonographic experience, i.e. approaching it from digital components, the voltage generated by phono cartridges seems silly low. We’re talking about voltages around 5 millivolts (mV) or 0.005 volts for a typical MM (moving-magnet) cartridge. DAC’s and CD players typically output about 2 volts. If you think 5 millivolts is low, how about the 0.5 millivolt output for a typical low-output MC (moving coil) cartridge, that’s 1/10 the voltage of a typical MM cartridge. And there are a few very low output moving coil cartridges that only output a little over 0.1 mV! A quick introduction to the phono cartridge team: [...]
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