Preamplifiers — Exposure 5010 Pre-Amplifier

The Exposure 5010 Pre-Amplifier is the top preamplifier from Exposure, the British company founded in 1974 that designs and finishes its products in the south of England. Together with the 5010 mono power amplifiers it replaced the earlier MCX range at the head of the catalogue, and its front panel carries only a power switch, an input selector and a volume control.

Key specs that matter

Relays select between six line inputs, a number that drops to five when the optional MM or MC phono card is fitted. On the rear panel there are a balanced XLR output, a tape output and two sets of RCA outputs. Gain is 9 dB through the unbalanced outputs and 15 dB through the balanced one, sensitivity is 500 mV and the inputs present no less than 18 kohm. Maximum unbalanced output exceeds 9 V RMS. The response is -3 dB at 1 Hz and 57 kHz, THD stays under 0.005% at 1.6 V and the A-weighted S/N figure exceeds 98 dB. Channel separation is over 60 dB across 20 Hz to 20 kHz and typically above 85 dB at 1 kHz. The case stands 90 mm tall, 440 mm wide and 300 mm deep, with a weight of 6 kg.

Engineering and use context

A plug-in board turns one input into either a phono stage or a DAC. The phono card is fully discrete, with tight-tolerance equalisation components, low-noise regulators and a DC-coupled input, and the MM and MC versions are sold separately. The DAC board accepts PCM up to 24-bit/192 kHz and DSD64 through USB and BNC inputs and switches between them automatically. The circuit is DC coupled, with servos at the output and a single capacitor at the input, so only a few parts sit in the signal path. A discrete Class A transistor buffer forms the output stage and drives both the balanced output and the interconnects. Power comes from a custom 200 W toroidal transformer with fast rectifiers and 24 smoothing capacitors. Input selection, volume and mute all work from the remote control. The enclosure is made entirely of aluminium in black or titanium, consumption is under 25 W, and every unit is supplied set up for 110/120 V or 220/240 V mains. Exposure gives a three-year guarantee.

Pairing

The balanced XLR output is meant for Exposure's 5010 mono power amplifiers, rated at 200 W into 8 ohms, while the RCA outputs connect to any stereo power amplifier. With the DAC card fitted, the 5010 becomes a digital preamplifier for a computer or a streamer.

Alternatives

Exposure's 3010S2 is the smaller preamplifier of the range, built to partner the 3010 series power amplifiers.