Sutherland PhonoBlock, Owner'S Manual

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DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Another path to the same destination.
Almost always, upscale designs are laden with features. More features are touted to represent ad-
vancement, product differentiation AND a rational for the upscale price. The PhonoBlocks don’t play
that game. Their elevated performance is achieved by NOT cluttering the signal path with deleterious
features. Complexity is not the path to purity. Elegant refinement is.
PURE MONO, the path to PURE STEREO
Why do stereo phono preamps prevail in the market? Even the most expensive ones on the planet still
merge the two channels into one box. Obviously, there must be some advantages in stereo construc-
tion. But are the advantages worth compromises in performance?
The advantages of a stereo phono preamp:
Conformity: A single chassis stereo phono preamp is the accepted stan-
dard. With the introduction of stereo records, came stereo preamplifiers.
That initial decision has rarely been questioned.
Convenience in configuration settings: It is more convenient to go to one
place to set configurations for both channels. The most convenient way is
having control knobs (or remote controls) that change both channels simul-
taneously.
Simplified installation: Only one box to install. Only one power cable to purchase
and accommodate.
Less expensive to implement: Sharing the same enclosure and power supply is cheaper than
each channel having its own enclosure and power supply.
Other simplifications: Only one box to build, test, warehouse, inventory and ship.
Less expensive, convenient, simplified, conformity. While these points may all be valid, they hardly
scream “best practice” when it comes to making the best sounding phono preamplifier.
The advantages of stereo packaging come at a cost. Start at the back panel; that is where the first
compromise appears. On most phono preamps you will conveniently find both input jacks grouped at
one end and both output jacks grouped together at the other end. That concession to convenience has
deleterious consequences. Both channels are now intertwined as the circuit layout progresses from the
pair of input jacks to the pair of output jacks. There is going to be cross coupling of the two channels.
Signals from one channel will spill into the other channel. Channel separation and the spatial/dimen-
sional clues will be blurred.