Professional Direct Box Transformers for High-End Audio Applications

Early direct box audio transformers were actually repurposed microphone input transformers hooked up in reverse.  They were not optimized for this application.  They not only lacked very high input impedance, but they did not have dual Faraday shields which importantly provide galvanic and capacitive isolation.  Dual Faraday shields in CineMag’s direct box transformers maximally isolate the instrument from the microphone cable that they ty0pically drive.

Being impedance converters, they take what typically is a very high output impedance from the pickup and convert it to very low impedance.  This is why a good direct box transformer provides a quiet signal over a long cable.

The earliest transformers specifically engineered for this purpose were engineered by Ed Reichenbach who founded Reichenbach Engineering/CineMag in 1975.  Over the years, CineMag has improved upon the original Direct Box transformer designs and generated new ones to meet customers’ increased requirements to deliver the highest performance available today.  As a result of their excellent Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR), wide bandwidth, and very low harmonic distortion, they reliably deliver excellent results on stage and in the studio.