Предусилители — Exposure 5010 Pre-Amplifier

The 5010 is the top preamplifier of Exposure, the British company founded in 1974 and based in the south of England, where its products are designed and finished. It replaced the earlier MCX range at the top of the catalogue together with the 5010 mono power amplifiers, and its front panel is pared back to a power switch, an input selector and a volume control.

Key specs that matter

Relays switch six line inputs, reduced to five if the optional MM or MC phono card is installed. Outputs are two pairs of RCA, one balanced XLR and one tape output. Gain is 9 dB on the unbalanced output and 15 dB on the balanced output, sensitivity is 500 mV and input impedance is 18 kohm minimum. Maximum output exceeds 9 V RMS unbalanced. Frequency response is -3 dB at 1 Hz and 57 kHz, THD is below 0.005% at 1.6 V and signal-to-noise exceeds 98 dB (A-weighted). Channel separation exceeds 60 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and is typically above 85 dB at 1 kHz. The chassis is 90 mm high, 440 mm wide and 300 mm deep, and the preamplifier weighs 6 kg.

Engineering and use context

One input can be reconfigured by a plug-in board as either a phono stage or a DAC. The phono card is fully discrete with tight-tolerance equalisation parts, low-noise regulators and a DC-coupled input. The DAC board handles up to 24-bit/192 kHz PCM and DSD64 through USB and BNC inputs with automatic switching between them. The preamplifier is DC coupled, with servos at the output and a single capacitor at the input, so few components sit in the signal path. The output stage is a discrete transistor Class A buffer, which drives the balanced output and the interconnects. The power supply uses a custom toroidal transformer of 200 W with fast rectifiers and 24 smoothing capacitors. Input selection, volume and mute are all remote controlled. The case is all aluminium, finished in black or titanium, and power consumption is below 25 W, and each unit leaves Exposure wired for either 110/120 V or 220/240 V mains. The MM and MC phono boards are sold as separate options. Exposure provides a three-year guarantee. The DAC card makes the 5010 a digital preamplifier for a computer or streamer,.

Pairing

The balanced XLR output feeds Exposure's 5010 mono power amplifiers, rated at 200 W into 8 ohms, while the RCA outputs suit any stereo power amplifier.

Alternatives

Exposure's 3010S2 is the smaller preamplifier in the range for the 3010 series power amplifiers.