Another thing to keep in mind is that step-ups can often cause grounding problems and introduce hum into your system, and that's sometimes a devil to get rid of (I've had this problem in the past). Plus, unless you spend a good deal of money for an Expressive Technologies or similar unit, many step-up transformers can tend to add their own distortions and degradations to the signal. And then there's the cost and tangle of additional interconnects, the possibility of impedance mismatches... I think your best bet would be to update the cartridge (I used to have that cartridge, and its good but I think it can be matched by some of the modern higher output designs) unless you can get a different phono card for the BAT with more gain (don't know if this is available).
Step up device or new cartridge?
I have a Oracle Delphi MK II with an early Graham arm. My cartridge is a Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 with low hours.
I recently bought a BAT VK 30 SE with the $ 500 phono stage.
The trouble is the phono section does not have quite enough
gain for the cartridge.
Should I get a step up device or get a higher output cartridge such as a Benz Micro Glider? Budget does not allow both! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I recently bought a BAT VK 30 SE with the $ 500 phono stage.
The trouble is the phono section does not have quite enough
gain for the cartridge.
Should I get a step up device or get a higher output cartridge such as a Benz Micro Glider? Budget does not allow both! Any help would be greatly appreciated.