Using a SUT with Stellar Phonostage - Ground wire confusion

Hey folks:

A few years ago I bought a Phasemation T-500 SUT on a whim while on vacation in Asia. The T-500 has both XLR and RCA inputs but only has RCA outputs. It also has a grounding post in the back.

If I were to use the T-500 with the MM stage of the Stellar phono would I connect the ground wire from the tonearm to the SUT or the phono stage?, Or would I connect the tonearm ground to the SUT then use separate ground wire to connect the SUT to the phono stage ground?

Confusingly my Basis 2001 turntable also has its own ground wire that I have just left hanging down the back. Is that supposed to be connected to something.

Hi,

While not nearly as experienced as some on the forum with regards to analog front ends, I do employ an SUT with the SPP

I connect the tonearm ground to the ground terminal on the SUT and connect a ground wire from the SUT to the SPP and have no issues (noise/hum)

Are you having hum/noise issues?
What is the gain provided by your SUT? Or is it adjustable? (too lazy to look it up at the moment🙂)

Best,
-JP

Thanks john! The T-500 has fixed 26 db gain suitable for 1.5 to 40 ohms. With the Hana ML I calculated the output to be 7.5 mV so it should be suitable into the MM stage of the SPP. Yes there was hum when the ground was connected to either the SUT or SPP but no direct into the MC of the SPP.

What is your experience soundwise with using the SUT into MM stage at vs straight into the MC stage of the SPP?

legitimately, honestly curious… why are you using an SUT with the SPP? Does the MC side not provide enough gain on its own?

Or is it a second MC cart/turntable that you’re using, and you need to use the MM side?

Actually I have 2 turntables :crazy_face:! A vintage VPI HW-19/Zeta I have owned since the 1980’s and Basis 2001/Graham 2.2.

The other reason is legitimate curiosity of the differences in sound between passive + active (some) amplification, vs. all active (aka MC stage). U

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The SUT in my system certainly does not degrade the sound, I got them because I have multiple preamps that I swap in and out and one of them has mm input only

With the SPP I feel it adds a bit to the dynamics and opens up the soundstage

Best,
-JP

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