Customer Review of Phasemation PP-2000 Stereo Cartridge and T-2000 Step Up Transformers

A happy customer has kindly written up a review of the Phasemation PP-2000 stereo moving coil cartridge and Phasemation T-2000 dual mono step up transformer (SUT) that he recently bought from us.  Here is his review, with some added pictures:

According to their webpage; “Phasemation” is the hi-fi audio brand name of Kyodo Denshi Engineering Co., Ltd. of Japan. The name “Phasemation” was apparently decided upon to highlight what Kyodo Denshi feel are the fundementals of realism in music reproduction, “Phase” and Information”, thus these terms were combined into their brand name, “Phasemation”. They produce MC phono cartridges, phono amplilfiers, controllers, monaural valved power amplifiers, MC step up transformers and Accessories that appear to be at the higher end of available music reproduction equipment.

During the past couple of weeks, Hugo of Ammonite Audio in Norwich, has been bringing equipment over to my house to audition on my stereo. At first it was to audition the limited edition Ortofon SPU Century, and Ortofon SPU Wood A.  First, in order to play these large heavy low compliance cartridges properly, we needed to change my low mass SME 3009i tonearm to a higher mass GrooveMaster II 9″ arm. A selection of step up transformers were brought as well so that we could play these low output SPUs through my Leben RS-30EQ MM phono stage.  My review equipment consists of a Loricraft Garrard 301 oil bearing turntable with GrooveMaster 9″ tonearm. Shindo interconnects to Leben RS-30EQ MM Phono preamplifier and Leben CS-300Xs Integrated Amplifier (whose Sovtek valves had been replaced with 1960’s New Old Stock Amperex valves). Connected to a pair of Thrax Lyra speakers on stands by Auditorium-23 Speaker cables.  

The first listening session was with the Ortofon SPU Century. Hugo suggested the Sculpture A Mini Nano Step Up Transformer, with 26:1 step up ratio, as, in his opinion, it outperformed all the other SUTs in its price range.  The phono cartridge I had been using before this review had been the Nagaoka MP-50 MM cartridge. It had a lovely mid-range warmth that I thought sounded great, especially with records of female singers, or small jazz enseble, but not with rock or orchestra. So with that sound in mind, we tried the Ortofon SPU Century and Sculpture A Mini Nano. The first thing that jumped out at me was the sound stage. Suddenly, music was playing left and right of my speakers with equal force and volume of that between the speakers. Depth too, and with the bass and treble now present, the sound was dynamic, meaty, and airy. Unfortunately, with this system, the leading edge of notes were sharp, too harsh. Plucked strings and leading edge of the piano strikes were strident, hurt my ears and made me want to turn the volume down.  Next, the Ortofon SPU Wood A, with adaptor for regular arms, also through the Sculpture A Mini Nano SUT. The SPU wood A was not as harsh on the leading edge of every note that the Century was, but was a bit bright. The sound stage, not quite as wide, or deep as the Century, and the instruments were not as focused in place but still dynamic and lively. I could live with this combination, as it did provide more than my Nagaoka, but enough to justify the expenditure?  My thoughts were, if one were going to upgrade their cartridge to MC, and needed to buy a SUT in order to use it, then one should get the best that they could afford, remembering the maxim: “junk in – junk out”. I assumed that the Mini Nano did not have enough resistance to tame the SPU Century and asked Hugo if we could try the SPU Century again, this time with an Ortofon ST-7 SUT, not their best but, as it is made from the same company it might tame this cartridge better than the Mini Nano. It did, no more sharp edge to music notes, but we lost the sound stage, weight, tone and sparkle that the SPU Century shown with the Mini Nano with it.

During the switching back and forth between these two Ortofon cartridges, we tried another, the Phasemation PP-300 MC cartridge, again through the Mini Nano SUT. It sounded good, not great, a competent MC only. But no harshness. Hugo says he has a Phasemation PP-2000 MC cartridge in stock, but not opened to test. I wanted to hear the PP-2000 so took a chance. I purchased the PP-2000 MC that he had in stock and was loaned a Phasemation T-300 SUT in order to listen to the combination for a couple of days.  The sound of the above combination gave me a peek of the high end and caused me to agree to purchase the matching T-2000 SUTs (separates) which his importer had ordered from Japan. They arrived in the following week. The following is my impression of the sound of the Phasemation PP-2000 and T-2000 combination:

I think I expected warmth, a heavenly air that soothed the soul, and was concerned, at first, that I did not hear that, but then I did, not on that first recording, but on another where “warmth” was recorded. This cartridge/SUT combination is honest. If the harmonica sounds as if it were recorded in a pedestrian tunnel full of reverberations and echo, then it was recorded like that. If the music was recorded on a sound stage, the singer separate from the band, then that is what you hear. An orchestra playing far field in an auditorium sounds like you are in the centre of an auditorium, back from the stage. A close-miked jazz club recording sounds like it was recorded in a jazz club.

The bass is great, despite not having bass units or sub-woofers. Deeper than before and one can easily discern if it be from an electric bass guitar or a stand up bass fiddle. Treble with sparkle is heard with sparkle, air, if recorded. The dynamic fluccuations in volume in the Classic Records pressing of Scheherazade (LSC-2446) now startles me, whereas it never did before, and now I understand that phrase; “The power of Orchestra”. Records that I played to show off the sweet midrange of my Nagaoka sound completely different with this Phasemation combination, and some records that I did not like with the Nagaoka, sound wonderful now (some still I do not like but that is not the fault of this Phasemation combo).

It is a lot of money to spend on the front end of a high-fi system, more than my amplifier and phonostage combined, but less than my speakers. So, while I did not intend to suggest those who plan on building their own system that they weigh their allocation of funds on speakers and front end primarily, I can assure you it certainly worked here.

My thanks to Mark for writing this up.  His system might appear, to a casual onlooker,  to be a bit lopsided, cost-wise, but take it from me that it really sings.  In the past I’ve been very underwhelmed by Leben amps after owning a ‘smooth but boring’ CS-600, but Mark’s little CS-300XS with NOS Amperex EL84 valves is a belter – lively, colourful and musically addictive, and I want one!  Its power is clearly a limiting factor, but when it reaches its limits it does so gently, and graciously, but there’s no shortage of volume headroom in Mark’s generously sized room.  Mark’s Thrax speakers were a new experience for me, and they are usually paired with enormous bass units, but here they provide more than enough bass depth and they sound open, dynamic and engaging, without aggression.  I can see why Mark likes them.  Mark’s old Garrard 301, in a fairly basic Loricraft plinth, is a perfect illustration of why these old idlers are (rightly) revered – quiet and expressive, with no audible rumble, this is a superb deck.  Mark was worried that I was just saying nice things to please him, but this old 301, with the new GrooveMaster 9″ s-shaped tonearm, is a truly high end performer and just goes to show how much musical performance can be had for a relatively modest expenditure, if you just stop and think about it.  Yes, the Groovemaster is bettered by a Glanz MH-94S but at considerably higher cost.

Mark stuck his neck out and ordered the Phasemation T-2000 SUTs unseen, and unheard.  If he didn’t ultimately like them, he need not have kept them, but from the first notes played it was clear that the Phasemation PP-2000 and T-2000 combination is deeply special.  As Mark noted above, there were no sonic fireworks, but instead a beautifully balanced and sweet sound character, with truly astonishing musical insight.  The great Stereophile reviewer Herb Reichert often talks about high end audio simply being a vehicle to take you closer to the illusion of ‘being there’, and clearly that does depend on the original recording, but this Phasemation combination does transport you to a consistently special place and I did feel quite emotional that day when we first hooked them up in Mark’s room.  Apart from being quite the best things that I’ve ever heard in analogue replay, the PP-2000/T-2000 also show that the old adage ‘garbage in, garbage out’ does most definitely apply in audio, as well as showing that real gems like Mark’s old 301 and Leben CS-300XS/RS-30EQ are more than good enough to do justice to front end components of the Phasemations’ quality and price (the Phasemation T-2000 is £9395 for a pair of mono SUTs).  All this also shows beyond doubt that Groovemaster arms are true audiophile high end performers, at a very modest price, and this new s-shaped variant is a real peach.

I’m still reeling, and in audio terms life will not quite be the same ever again, until I can justify having the T-2000 SUTs here at Ammonite Audio.  The T-2000 SUTs are big and heavy things, as you can see below.  There ain’t no substitute for size, with SUTs, it seems!