The AN Step Up Transformer is a passive device, designed to convert the mainly current output of your Moving Coil cartridge (MC) to a higher voltage, low current signal of sufficient strength to allow a Moving Magnet (MM) phono stage to amplify it to a suitable level.
The internal transformers used are manufactured by Audio Note (UK) exclusively, use the very best core materials and winding technology available at the price, and are housed in mumetal screening canisters to minimise noise and interference.
It is possible to use our transformers with cartridges that have greater internal impedance, or values that are outside the preferred ranges of the switchable inputs, however, it is important to realise that an input impedance in the region of three to four times the internal impedance of your cartridge will usually provide the best results.
It is well known that the accurate reproduction of music, not just sound, requires the purity of the incoming phono signal to be preserved. It is therefore not difficult to conclude that, in order to achieve this goal and to retain the musicality of the original performance, the complexity of the circuitry itself must be kept to a minimum.
A single-ended, zero feedback circuit topology. This is simply the most linear design possible, demanding pure Class A valve operation and removing the need for a phase splitter, which introduces unnecessary crossover distortion.
In contrast to the majority of the audio industry, we design our circuits with the aim of minimising non-harmonic and time base anomalies, rather than producing vanishingly small harmonic or low intermodulation distortion measurements. These non-harmonic amplitude and time base distortions have a highly perceptible and adverse affect on the signal waveform, and it is far more important to address these factors than participate in the increasingly irrelevant numbers game that chases „perfect measured response‟.
Audio Note offers 8 Phono Stages and 9 Step Up Transformers in low, medium or high versions with numerous Impedance values ranging from 3 ohms to 400 ohms.
Please have a look at the Audio Note website for details and specifications or give us a call with any questions.
