Sound & Vision 2015 Hot Product
This two-box moving-magnet-only phono stage was shown
last year, but it has now reached the point where it is being put into production.
Designed by tube guru Nick Gorham (Longdog Audio) and manufactured by
transformer-volume-control specialist Music First Audio, the Reference phono stage
(£9850) really is a tour de force. Jonathan Billington chose to build it as MM only
because he feels that transformers are better at increasing the output voltage of an MC
phono cartridges than active devices. Jonathan also wanted the Reference to have a pure
tube stage, and even phono stages that have MC inputs tend to use transformers for the
job. With the power supply employing shunt regulation and the equalization achieved with a
tube-driven inductive T-network, not to mention quality parts selection, this is a serious
piece of kit. |