Phonostages — Audionet PAM G2

The PAM G2 is a phono preamplifier from Audionet, built with an exceptionally wide range of switchable MC and MM loading options. Audionet is a German specialist manufacturer known for measurement-focused, high-performance electronics, and this phono stage extends that same precision engineering into vinyl playback specifically, a category where careful impedance matching affects the final tonal result more than in most other source components.

Key specs that matter

Impedance is switchable across 100, 150, 470, 1000, 23,000, 47,000 and 69,000 ohms, an unusually wide range covering essentially any cartridge from the lowest-output moving-coil design through to a high-output moving-magnet cartridge, all within a single unit. Output impedance is 94 ohms via XLR and 22 ohms via RCA, both low figures well suited to driving a preamplifier without introducing cable-related signal loss. Rated bandwidth is 18 Hz to 80 kHz, a wide window extending well past what a vinyl record itself can physically encode, a common practice to ensure the amplification stage never becomes the bandwidth-limiting factor in the chain. At 430 x 70 x 310 mm and 9 kg it is a substantial chassis for a phono stage, suggesting a serious power supply behind the flexible loading circuitry.

Sound and use context

Expect a highly adjustable, precisely engineered presentation with the exceptionally wide loading range allowing fine cartridge matching - this level of adjustability is rare even among specialist phono stages, and should allow optimal matching to almost any cartridge a listener might own or later acquire.

Pairing

The wide switchable impedance range covers moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges of nearly any output level directly, removing the need for a separate step-up transformer even with unusually low-output moving-coil designs.

Alternatives

Audionet's broader electronics range, including its power amplifiers, forms natural partner components for a system built around this brand, worth pairing together for buyers who value a consistent engineering philosophy across their whole signal chain. Given the sheer breadth of loading options here, a listener with several cartridges of different output levels and internal impedances stands to benefit most from this unit, since a simpler phono stage with only two or three fixed settings would likely force a compromise on at least one of them. Audionet's German engineering pedigree, generally associated with careful attention to measured performance, should give confidence that these switchable settings are well implemented rather than a marketing checklist feature.