Phonoblocks -a phono preamplifi cation instrument by sutherland engineering owner’s manual.
A note from designer ron sutherland: the phonoblock story introduction: the phonoblock is the phono preamp i designed for my home system. Its design was a self indulgence. I built it to please me. There was no consideration to accommodate any market influences. That mind-set gave me the absolute free...
Design philosophy another path to the same destination. Almost always, upscale designs are laden with features. More features are touted to represent ad- vancement, product differentiation and a rational for the upscale price. The phonoblocks don’t play that game. Their elevated performance is achie...
Design philosophy power supplies power supply: much of the phonoblock’s effortless musicality can be attributed to power supply capability. The power supply is not ‘sized’ for the gain stage’s load. On the contrary, gain stage power requirements place an insignificant load on the power supply’s capac...
Design philosophy • third rc pi filter • forth rc pi filter • fifth rc pi filter • constant voltage shunt regulator • electrolytic and film capacitor bypass at the active devices you can clearly see that each element adds ‘distance’ from the incoming ac power source. This is also apparent when you look ...
Some are small. For instance, if the front panel logo were simply silk-screened ink, sitting on the sur- face of the panel it would, over the years, rub off. It is actually a black dye anodized into the alumi- num. You can see and even feel the difference. Some are big. The base of the phonoblock is...
White noise generator: it can take quite a long listening time before a high resolution component reaches its performance po- tential. The phonoblocks are no exception. However, the phonoblocks distinguish themselves by including white noise generators --- one for each channel. White noise becomes t...
Layout is compromised with the clutter of fitting in all option components. Signal path must wander thru the selector switch and the pile of unused option components. Sometimes the selector switch is of high quality. More often it is a cheap dip rocker switch – the sort for setting digital signals. N...
Phonoblock specifications cartridge loading 50 ohms 100 ohms 200 ohms 475 ohms 1k ohms 10k ohms 47k ohms blank card, can be configured for 1 to 47k ohms plus capacitance gain settings 45 db 50 db 55 db 60 db blank card, can be configured for 40 to 70 db size: 17” wide 17” deep 3.25” high shipping box: ...
