10
Mitchell & Johnson 800 series pre-amplifier Overview
The Mitchell & Johnson 800 pre-amplifier is a class leading product, capable of superb performance
at the heart of an audiophile stereo system. It incorporates a substantial number of connections for
both analogue and digital sources.
In all there are 13 potential source connections.
Connections
Input Connections
Analogue 1-4 >
The
Mitchell & Johnson 800 pre-amplifiers analogue inputs should only be con-
nected to the analogue outputs (usually marked left/right and colour coded white/
red
) from a source
component.
Balanced >
High end sources often feature this kind of connection. It does not offer any inherent
advantage over unbalanced connections in short cables but it does offer better signal to noise and
hum rejection in long cables where the components are sited some distance apart.
Phono >
This is where a turntable should be connected which dos
NOT
have an integrated phono
stage pre-amplifier. The Mitchell & Johnson 800 pre-amplifiers phono stage can be used with either
a Moving Magnet or a Moving Coil cartridge. The relevant setting is accessible in the setup menu.
Digital
Optical 1-3 >
Optical connections are commonly used on televisions, games machines and satellite
television receivers to transfer digital audio information from one component to another.
The main benefit of optical connections is that there is no direct earth connection between units,
thereby avoiding induced hum from ground loops or switch mode power supply noise being passed
from one device to another.
Co-Axial 1-3 >
Many CD players, streaming network players and external processors use Co-Axial
wired connections. Theoretically the quality is superior to optical with less jitter induced in the trans-
mission chain, but in practice it probably makes little difference.
USB >
Computer based music playback, if from a conventional computer or a media server (just a
computer hidden in a box) is generally via a USB connection.
The Mitchell & Johnson 800 pre-amplifier has an asynchronous connection using an XMOS USB
interface chip. This does not require a driver with Apple, Linux or Android based systems. However,
Microsoft devices will require a suitable driver and setup for the interface to work. See page 19
