Sharing all the excellent qualities of the Gram Amp 2 phono preamp, this Special Edition phono preamp has a number of differences that make it even more musical, lifting it's performance to a new high. So what did Graham Slee do to achieve this? Graham explains:
"Firstly, we looked at the power supply. The original Gram Amp 2 had benefited through the option of using the big PSU1 power supply, so we took it a stage further and increased the SE's internal voltage rail an extra 50% using a bigger, more linear voltage regulator. We changed the original plug-top power supply to one with more transformer iron, twice the power, 50% higher voltage and far more substantial. This meant we could increase the gain, and with it, the dynamic range of the phono stage. We added components to maintain the good bass response. In the process of doing all this the dynamic headroom (input overload margin) was increased too, enabling the SE to be used with "monster" output cartridges, or just giving the peace of mind that it could never be upset ("clipped") by the loudest vinyl modulations. A further advantage of the SE's greater gain is that, given a suitably high output cartridge, it can now drive passive preamps and average sensitivity power amps direct."
Recommended System Component: Stereophile October 2002
Recommended Best Buy: The Absolute Sound Oct/Nov 2002
Recommended Best Buy: The Absolute Sound Dec 2002/Jan 2003
Please note: Only available with a 240V 50Hz power supply.