Need a sut for Hana ml

after you get it right:

your new stylus profile may be giving a brighter sound than your sl

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/high-performance-high-value-hana-ml-and-mh-cartridges

"The MicroLine stylus has an even narrower “contact patch” than the already “severe” Shibata stylus used on the Hana SL. It more closely resembles the cutting stylus itself and so is theoretically capable of extracting more information from the grooves, particularly the higher frequencies and especially those located closer to the label area."

he ran it thru this MM/MC phono stage which has rear switches to adjust loading

ELAC - PPA-2 Alchemy Phono Preamplifier

https://www.musicdirect.com/phono-preamps/Elac-Alchemy-PPA-2-Phono-Preamplifier

reading about that ELAC unit, they say:

" Want additional proof? It front-panel even features a loading meter to assist with effortless dialing-in of cartridge settings."

that's quite interesting IMO

Elliott, With all due respect, I sometimes don’t know what you are trying to say. I think you make the SUT business much more complex than it needs to be, but that’s just me. My understanding is or was that the OP found he did not like the SQ he got from his cartridge when using a 1:10 SUT, although the gain factor was apparently OK. Whereas, he felt he had too much gain when he hooked up the same cartridge to the MC inputs of his phono stage, which provides a gain of 60db into 100 ohms, BUT he did prefer the SQ in the latter hook-up. I certainly could be wrong, but the question seems to be how to achieve a 100-ohm load with a SUT, in the belief that the "problem" is the impedance seen by the cartridge, 470 ohms with a 1:10 SUT vs 100 ohms with the MC gain stage providing 60db. Yes, he did ask "what ratio SUT should I use". Without changing some other parameters, there is no simple answer to that question that will give the proper amount of gain into 100 ohms. Going down in step-up ratio, e.g., to 1:5, will result in a higher net impedance (>470 ohms, or less of a load on the cartridge). Going up in step-up ratio would put him back in the situation of having too much gain, although we don’t know for sure what is the gain of the MM section which factors into the net gain after adding any SUT.

OK, I broke down and did some research on the Cary PH301. Apparently the MM stage presents a 68K ohm resistance, with 42db gain. First of all, this means the cartridge "sees" 680 ohms (68,000/100) across a 1:10 SUT, not 470 ohms. (We are dividing the resistance at the input to the phono stage by the square of the turns ratio of the SUT to calculate the net load seen by the cartridge.) The MC stage of the PH301 gives 62db gain according to the owners manual on-line, not 60db. Interestingly, after the SUT provides a voltage gain of 10X, which is 20db, the net gain with a 1:10 SUT into the MM section is 62db (42db + 20db), exactly the same as the gain achieved with direct connection into the MC section. So I have to back track on something I wrote above and also ask the OP, is the gain really detectably different via your SUT into MM vs direct into MC? Also, maybe the SQ difference is indeed related only to the difference in impedances seen by the cartridge. Anyway, if the OP prefers the SUT connection for its SQ, he could change the value of the MM load resistance, either by paralleling a second resistor of the value needed to reduce the net resistance to 10K ohms, or by simply removing the 68K resistor and replacing it with 10K. (10K on the phono side will give the cartridge 100 ohms across the SUT, 10,000/100.) After that, the MM and MC inputs will be exactly the same as regards both gain and cartridge loading. Case closed.

I have used both the Hana SL and Hana ML as demo cartridges at audio shows, and have experimented with many different step up ratios.  The Hana SL is perfect at 1:10.  The Hana ML is perfect at 1:20.  I highly recommend 1:20 with the ML into MM inputs.

@bobsdevices 

I have used both the Hana SL and Hana ML as demo cartridges at audio shows, and have experimented with many different step up ratios. The Hana SL is perfect at 1:10. The Hana ML is perfect at 1:20. I highly recommend 1:20 with the ML into MM inputs.

Could you explain why you think the Hana SL (0.5mv output) is perfect @1:10 which generates 5mv into the moving magnet input, but on the other hand you claim that the Hana ML (0.4mv output) is perfect @1: 20 which generates 8mv into a standard MM input.

You are claiming that for the Hana ML 8mv into all MM inputs is perfect.
In my experience this is far from the truth, too much gain can result in running the volume pot at the bottom of its range where channel imbalance is at its worst. 

This highlights the problem with using SUTs like you sell, where load and gain are determined by the turns ratio, and much of the time suboptimal loads and or gain structures result, which is what the OP is trying to avoid.

I highly recommend 1:20 with the ML into MM inputs.

How can you possibly make a blanket statement like this without knowing the electrical parameters of the MM input.