Предусилители — Mola Mola Makua

The Makua is the analogue preamplifier from Mola Mola, the Dutch company based in Groningen whose CTO and designer Bruno Putzeys laid out its circuits. The idea was a preamp that is complete rather than minimal, so the basic unit is a gain stage with a programmable routing matrix, and the chassis has room for an internal DAC and phono stage. In the US the base Makua was priced at USD 12,200, with the phono option at USD 3,000 and the DAC option at USD 8,500, and the unit is Roon Ready certified.

Key specs that matter

Five stereo inputs each have XLR and floating RCA sockets, chosen by a toggle switch or by software, and any input can be set as line or phono. Two parallel balanced XLR outputs allow bi-amping, and four programmable triggers use 3.5 mm jacks. Input impedance is 100 kohm and output impedance 44 ohm. Maximum input and output level is 20 dBu (7.75 Vrms), unweighted noise at unity gain is 1.9 uV, and bandwidth exceeds 200 kHz. Gain runs from minus 70 dB to plus 15 dB with steps finer than 0.2 dB over the normal listening range, and distortion is estimated at around minus 150 dB, below what test equipment can resolve. The mains supply switches automatically between 90-135 V and 180-270 V, consumption is 20 W, and the chassis measures 420 x 110 x 345 mm and weighs 11 kg.

Engineering and use context

Every stage uses discrete amplifier modules in a single-ended driven differential topology, which Mola Mola says stops noise from travelling through the whole chain and makes the unit largely immune to mains quality and interconnect choice. The relay-based volume control acts directly on the gain of the output stage, giving wider dynamic range and linearity than a stepped attenuator. Software controls XLR or RCA choice, source, routing through the phono board, polarity of either channel, mono summing, balance, a gain offset of plus or minus 8 dB and optional tone control. Six front buttons recall presets, each storing any mix of these settings, set up through a Bluetooth app or an RS232 port. The DAC board upsamples to 3.125 MHz at 32 bits, converts to PWM and reaches a signal-to-noise ratio of 130 dB, and the phono board has separate MC and MM stages, gain in 5 dB steps over 40 dB and EQ curves including 78 RPM.

Pairing

The parallel XLR pair is intended for driving separate amplifiers in a bi-amped system, the triggers can switch other units on with the selected source, and a chassis ground terminal accepts a turntable earth lead.

Alternatives

Mola Mola makes no other line preamplifier, since its Tambaqui is a DAC with digital volume and the Lupe is a standalone phono stage.