Фонокорректоры — PrimaLuna EVO 100 Phono

The EVO 100 Phono is a valve phono stage from PrimaLuna, the Dutch valve electronics brand, priced at USD 4,495 in its V2 version. Both MM and MC cartridges are amplified entirely by valves, using an extra active valve stage for moving-coil gain instead of a step-up transformer. It shares the chassis format of the EVO 100 DAC and EVO 100 preamplifier.

Key specs that matter

PrimaLuna fits two 5AR4 rectifiers, two EL34 used to stabilise the power supply and four low-noise 12AX7 for the moving-magnet stage. Gain is 40 dB for MM and 60, 56 or 52 dB for MC in high, medium and low settings. MM loading is 47 kOhm with 47 pF or 100 pF capacitance, and for MC the load choices are 50, 100, 200, 500 or 1,000 ohm. Output impedance is 100 ohm at 1 kHz, and THD+N is below 0.40% at 2 V. Signal to noise ratio exceeds 90 dB at 23.8 dBV and 75 dB at 6.0 dBV, A-weighted. Frequency response is 0 Hz to 20 kHz (+0/-3 dB). There is one stereo RCA input and one stereo RCA output. Power consumption is 77 W at 115 V or 86 W at 230 V. It is 280 mm wide, 190 mm high and 405 mm deep, weighs 12.7 kg and comes in a silver or black finish.

Engineering and use context

Using EL34 power valves as regulators in the supply gives the high-gain circuits a stable voltage that does not follow variations in the mains. The two 5AR4 valves rectify the high-voltage supply. A large custom power transformer feeds the circuit, and the circuit is hand-wired from point to point. The MC board is mechanically decoupled from the chassis to reduce microphony, because a valve stage handling the tiny signal of a moving-coil cartridge is sensitive to vibration. An active MC stage adds its own gain in front of the MM stage, so the three MC gain settings can be matched to cartridges of different output. Selectable capacitance for moving-magnet cartridges allows the load to follow the cartridge maker's recommendation.

Pairing

With its low output impedance, it connects to any line-level input, including PrimaLuna's own EVO integrated amplifiers and preamplifiers. Moving-coil cartridges with low output use the 60 dB setting, and higher-output models the 52 or 56 dB settings.

Alternatives

The PrimaLuna PhonoLogue EVO is a much smaller phono stage board that fits inside the EVO amplifier range, suited to MM and high-output MC cartridges.