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The Sydney Morning Herald
17 July 2000
by Audiofile Greg Borrowman

Noticed something missing from this year's crop of integrated amplifiers and A/V receivers? Yep, it's the phono input. Taking their lead from the massive drop in turntable sales, many of the world's major hi-fi manufacturers have determined that they may as well save a few dollars by omitting the phono input from their audio systems.

Not providing a phono input may be frustrating if you're one of the few who wants to play LP records, but at least it's an obvious omission. What is not so obvious is the way that many of the manufacturers still fitting phono inputs to their amplifiers and receivers have downgraded the quality of the associated circuitry. This has happened pretty much across all price categories. Where once a high-end hi-fi manufacturer might have used hand-selected components in its phono stage, it now uses off-the-shelf components. And where a multinational manufacturer might once have used discrete components, you will now find low-cost op-amps instead. In a way, this second method of cutting costs is the more insidious of the two.

These days, if you want to be assured of owning a high-quality phono stage, one that will do your LPs justice, you will have to buy a specialised phono preamplifier to interface between your turntable and amplifier or receiver. ME's RIAA Phono Preamplifier is just such a device. It's not very impressive to look at, measuring just 220mm x 80mm x 55mm, and has no visible controls, just a single centrally mounted green power-on LED on the front panel. The rear panel is home to two gold-plated RCA phono inputs, two gold-plated RCA auxiliary outputs and a gold-plated ground terminal. There's also an AC power input socket, which connects to a plug-pack adaptor. There is one user-adjustable control, a switch that alters voltage gain between "low" (Moving magnet cartridges) and "high" (moving coil models). This switch is mounted on the circuit board inside the unit, but can be accessed by poking a screwdriver through a slot cut in the underside of the case.

Inside the casing the workmanship is flawless and the components soldered into the circuit board are the best money can buy. This attention to detail is hardly surprising, considering ME Sound's status as Australia's best-known hi-fi amplifier manufacturer. The circuit design uses a proved cascode-filter approach to generate the required RIAA (Record Industry Association of America) equalisation curve.

A laboratory test on The Guide's sample ME Preamp proved equalisation accuracy was excellent: better than 0.01dB between 30Hz and 20kHz. Separation between left and right channels was 64dB at 1kHz - more than sufficient for any phono cartridge. Sound quality was beautifully balanced across the audio spectrum and it was impossible to overload the ME's input stage, even with a high-output moving magnet cartridge.

If your old LP records are still an important part of your life, you may be pleasantly surprised at how good this high-quality phono preamp can make them sound.

(Greg Borrowman is the editor of Australian Hi-Fi Magazine.)