Фонокорректоры — European Audio Team (EAT) E-GLO PETIT

The E-Glo Petit is a hybrid phono preamplifier from European Audio Team, the analogue company better known by its short name EAT. It pairs a solid state input section with a valve output stage and accepts either MM or MC pickups through one RCA input. The unit was listed in the USA at an MSRP of USD 1,495 and has since been followed by the E-Glo Petit 2.

Key specs that matter

Six gain settings are provided - 40, 45, 50, 60, 65 and 70 dB. Resistive loading offers sixteen values. The low range covers 10, 18, 43, 75, 150, 300, 600 and 1200 ohm for moving coil use, and the high range covers 30, 36, 42, 47, 53, 59, 65 and 75 kohm for moving magnet cartridges. Capacitance can be set to 50, 150, 270, 370, 520 or 620 pF. Output impedance is 100 ohm. Signal to noise ratio is 87 dB A-weighted, and THD is 0.15 percent measured at 5 mV and 1 kHz. RIAA accuracy is held within 0.1 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The chassis measures 226 mm wide, 78 mm high and 262 mm deep.

Engineering and use context

At the input are low-noise 2SK209 J-FET transistors in a quad arrangement, while the output stage is built around two 12AX7 dual triodes. In that output section the plate of one triode is connected to the grid of the second, a cascode configuration. The circuit is fully discrete and uses no operational amplifiers, and the RIAA equalisation, which the maker calls precise, is built into this discrete signal path rather than into a separate chip. A switchable subsonic filter acts at 20 Hz with an 18 dB per octave slope. Gain, resistive load and capacitance are all selected from the front panel, where indicator LEDs show the current settings. The casing is made of aluminium and carries wooden side panels. Power comes from an external 18 V DC wall adaptor, and the unit draws 450 mA in operation and less than 0.5 W in standby. The regulated, filtered supply keeps the valves hot throughout a listening session.

Pairing

The E-Glo Petit sits between a turntable and a line level input on an amplifier or preamplifier. Its wide gain range and load steps let it work with the brand's own Jo series moving coil cartridges as well as with moving magnet types, for which the capacitance steps are specified.

Alternatives

The EAT E-Glo Petit 2 is the successor phono stage with the same 2SK209 and 12AX7 hybrid layout, side panels held by magnets that owners can fit themselves, and a black metal finish offered next to silver.