Audion Premier Moving Magnet phono stage is built on a
quality substrate pcb (printed circuit board) as with all Audion amps they
are hand built. The chassis is black powder coated aluminum as is the
transformer cover. The top plate and badge are mirror finished
stainless steel.
The soundstage is believeably big, and really it is up to the
recordings capabilities to shine through. Musicians are convincingly
placed. Noise level is pitch black. Roll off in both directions is
seamless. Resolution is astounding, with absolutely convincing depth
even at very low listening levels. It does not beautify bad records,
but it gives sparkle to great recordings, and preserves tonality,
rhythm and sense of space. We refer to this as being neutral, but not
sterile or warm or tubelike.
Amplifier matching
This moving magnet phono stage is best suited for use with
standard or low output moving magnet cartridges. The phono stage is easily matched with most
cartridges and being an active stage it does not need such close
matching as you would with a transformer based product. Upgrade options
are available for this model, see upgrade options at end. Can and has
been made in hard wired mono_blocks
Quality both inside and out
The MM phono stage is an active class A stage using a
transformer less design, which means matching is very easy. It is far
less critical of capacitance, resistance, impedance, inductance or
reactance matching that transformer couple RIAA stages normally need.
The Phono MM stage uses NOS Russian 6H23N tubes, it also has
a ground lift switch at the rear to assist in resolving grounding
issues by floating the ground internally above mains ground.