Courtesy of Wojiech over at the Asylum, a pair of Cinemag 3440A transformers in a nice cast aluminuml case (sorry, I thought it was steel), w/decent RCA's and a ground-lift switch. Good starter for someone (like me) getting started with low-output MC's. Works great at the 1:18 (150 ohm) tap for a Denon 103 or 103-R (and most LOMC cartridges) into a phono stage looking for an approx. 5 mv signal, give or take.
Cinemag lists only the load impedance of their transformers, rather than listing the transformers' turn ratios. A Cinemag 3440A phono transformer has taps for load impedances of 37.5, 150 and 600 ohms. Those figures are the load impedance that the phono stage 'sees' from the cartridge. The stated cartridge load impedances of 37.5, 150 and 600 ohms are measured in reference to a hypothetical 50k ohm MM phono stage impedance. Dividing that 50k ohm reference input impedance by the square of the turns ratio for any of the 3 taps gives one of the stated load impedance figures. When solving for the turns (step-up) ratios, you get (approx.) 9:1, 18:1, and 36.5:1. If you need less gain, try the 9:1 (600 ohm) tap. [I wouldn't imagine you'd use this transformer for the 36.5:1 tap. If you can afford one of those wonderful, really pricey, super-low output MC carts and need more gain, you're probably going to buy a Bob's Devices 'blue' Cinemag step up if you use a SUT. (Wojciech would rather have a Hashimoto . . .)
