Music Hall Audio - Bellari MC Step-Up Transformer with 24kt. Gold Transformer Covers

Bellari mt502μ
The new 2019 Bellari mt502μ is a stereo, moving coil step up transformer that raises the low level of a moving coil cartridge up to a moving magnet level, making your moving coil cartridge compatible with your phono preamp.

The mt502μ is all hand-built in the USA with 100% USA-made parts, right down to its custom hand-wound transformers and custom-made chassis. The mt502μ is as much art as it is audiophile performance.

(From Stereophile magazine) “The Bellari MT502 transformer: $499—Housed in Bellari’s familiar powder-coated red chassis, the MT502 step-up transformer features hand-wound coils, gold-plated inputs and outputs, and a ground lift. The MT502 produced a quiet background, sharp transients, and taut, fast, well-defined bass. A perfect match to Bellari’s VP130 moving-magnet phono preamp. (Vol.33 No.11)”

On Stereophile’s ‘Recommended Components’ list in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015… OK, you can see a pattern here.

The mt502μ is all hand-built in the USA. The mt502μ is a work of art as much as sonic perfection.

Moving coil cartridges should be stepped up with transformers to get the best sound quality. The issue with almost all phono preamps that claim they are MM and MC compatible is that most are MM phono preamps that are simply boosting the gain in the MC setting. This can create issues with sound quality. The fact of the matter is, MC cartridges need a transformer to be at their best. If you look at very high end systems, they all use step up transformers.

Bellari doesn’t just boost the gain of their phono preamps and call them MC compatible. They build a proper step-up transformer to make your MC cart sound the way it should.

The mt502μ will match almost any MC cartridge with its selectable turns ratio switch. It’s like having two step up transformers in one unit. The 12:1 is designed to work with carts like the Denon DL103 or 103R or similar. The 30:1 is designed to work with carts that need more gain/level.

The “μ” stands for MU Metal as that is the new metal now encasing the 2019 MT502 transformers. MU Metal is one of the best shielding materials known. The new transformers are hand wound, potted, encased in MU Metal and then placed into a copper chassis that has been gold plated. This is all done by hand, one at a time.

Feature List

• RCA inputs
• RCA outputs
• lift/ground switch
• impedance level control
• powder-coated steel chassis