Предусилители — Pilot Pilot Phono and Line Preamplifier

The Pilot Phono and Line Preamplifier is an all-valve stereo preamplifier from Pilot Radio, the American brand founded in 1919 in Brooklyn by Isidor Goldberg, a former test pilot. Pilot ran television broadcast tests as early as 1928 and became known for affordable hi-fi components in the 1950s and 1960s, and after Goldberg's death in 1961 it was sold to Emerson Radio, which kept the name until the mid-1970s. The brand was relaunched in March 2025 in Dallas by his great-grandson Barak Isidor Epstein, and this preamplifier, designed by the valve engineer Damon Coffman, began shipping in late 2025 at about USD 3,390 to 3,590.

Key specs that matter

Four valves do the work, two 12AX7 or ECC83 and two 12AU7 or ECC82 valves, with custom 12AX7s from PSVANE. Inputs are Line 1, Line 2, Phono MM and Phono MC, with the cartridge type chosen by a rear switch. The line stage has 17.5 dB of gain into a 50 kOhm load, or 14 dB into 10 kOhm, and the line input impedance is 47 kOhm. The MM stage adds 26 dB for a total of about 44 dB, and the MC stage adds 46 or 52 dB for a total of about 64 or 70 dB. RIAA accuracy is within +1 and -1.5 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and a rumble filter acts at 7 Hz with a slope of 3 dB per octave. The unit is built for 120 V or 240 V mains, specified at order.

Engineering and use context

RIAA equalisation is passive and applied without negative feedback, so the curve is formed by resistors and capacitors between the gain stages. The rumble filter removes very low frequencies caused by warped records and turntable motors before they reach the amplifier. Vintage oil-in-paper capacitors are used for coupling, and the signal flows in a straight line through the circuit. The build combines circuit boards with point-to-point and turret wiring, and the power supply is shielded. Coffman based the design on a preamplifier he had built years earlier and gave it the look of the original Pilot units, with a black hammer-tone chassis and a gold valve cage. The casework is made in Dallas by the designer Shad Wilson, engineering is done in Portland, Oregon, and most components come from US suppliers. Hand-selected PSVANE valve sets are offered as an option. The two MC gain settings cover both lower- and higher-output moving-coil cartridges.

Pairing

The Pilot 232 Stereophonic power amplifier is the matching partner from the same brand, and the line stage drives amplifiers with input impedances of 10 kOhm or more.

Alternatives

Pilot Radio makes no other preamplifier, as its only other current product, the 232 Stereophonic, is a power amplifier.