Phono Preamplifiers

Bel Canto’s claims for low noise are certainly borne out in the e.One Phono, but with limited gain adjustment it services MM, high- and medium-output MCs rather better than low-output MCs. Bel Canto specifies its four gain settings as +38dB (MM), +50dB, 58dB and +60dB (all MC) which, on test, were +37.9dB, +50.0dB, +57.2dB and +59.7dB via its balanced outs, equivalent to input sensitivities of 12.75mV, 3.17mV, 1.37mV and 1035µV, respectively. THD is also very low – between 100-1000x lower than any pick-up – at just 0.00014-0.0025% [Graph 2].

The lower sensitivity ‘+38dB’ option is better suited to high o/p MMs and is matched to a healthy 89mV input overload ceiling – or +25dB for a standard 5mV MM (re. 1kHz/5cm/sec) – and a truly fabulous 93dB A-wtd S/N ratio (re. 5mV). The three ‘MC’ options include an additional gain block and while the A-wtd S/N ratio seems to ‘fall’ to ~76.5dB this is because the IEC reference input (500µV) is 10x (or 20dB) lower than the 5mV MM standard. The ‘+50dB’ option might seem as useful for MMs as high o/p MCs but the 23mV (+13.3dB) input overload suggests some caution needs to be exercised. The remaining two +58/60dB options are really too similar (a +66dB mode would better suit low-output MCs) – so select by auditioning!

Bel Canto has not included a subsonic roll-off in the e.One Phono so its response remains within ±0.2dB from 20Hz down to 1Hz, which is fine if you have perfectly flat records, a well managed arm/cartridge resonance behaviour and, ideally, non reflex-loaded speakers. At the other end of the scale, the pronounced rise above 20kHz (+0.45dB), with a +6.4dB peak at 100kHz, suggests the controversial ‘Neumann ultrasonic time constant’ has been applied here [see Graph 1]. PM

Input loading (MM/MC): 47kohm / 31-980ohm
Input sensitivity (re. 0dBV balanced out): 12.8mV/3.2mV/1.37mV/1.03mV
Input overload (re. 1% THD): 89mV / 23mV/11mV/8mV
Max. output (re. 1% THD) / Impedance: 6.9V / 96ohm (balanced)
A-wtd S/N ratio (re. 0dBV balanced out): 93.0dB/ 76.2dB/76.4dB/76.7dB
Frequency resp. (20Hz-20kHz/100kHz): –0.15dB to +0.45dB / +6.4dB
Distortion (20Hz-20kHz, re. 0dBV): 0.00014–0.0025%
Power consumption: 4W
Dimensions (WHD) / Weight: 216x75x318mm / 4.5kg
Price: £1250