.....03-14-12: Br3098
Secondly, I was surprised at how much I preferred Bob's Cinemag 3440AH (Blue) unit to my beloved Hashimoto-based SUT. It's not that the HM-3 unit sounded worse compared to Bob's SUT. The unit from Choir Audio has a very seductive sound; warm, dusky and brassy. What I love about the Hashmoto-based SUT is what it does to horns, wood instruments and voices - there is great timbre and texture.
I wonder to what degree the turns ratio effected this comparison. What setting did you use to compare the 2 SUT's?
Curious because the high gain setting of the HM3 - 1:40 - would give a reflected impedance of 29.4ohms while the Cinemag on high gain (1:30) would give 52ohms. Probably enough to influence the comparison, making it difficult to compare those two SUT's with a particular cartridge. I suspect a low DCR cartridge would be best with the HM3 on high gain. The HM7 - 1:30 on high gain - is closer in spec to the Cinemag (though HM7 is considerably more expensive).