Sutherland PhonoBlock, Owner'S Manual

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NOVEL, YET ELEGANT
There are other details making the PhonoBlocks special.
Some are small. For instance, if the front panel logo were simply silk-screened ink, sitting on the sur-
face of the panel it would, over the years, rub off. It is actually a black dye anodized INTO the alumi-
num. You can see and even feel the difference.
Some are big. The base of the PhonoBlock is laser machined 12 gage cold rolled steel. That’s about
1/8” thick. That substantial platform is protected with baked on epoxy power coat.
Feet are custom machined from Delrin with rubberized cork inserts.
The theme of robust construction is also evident in the circuit boards. Fiberglass FR-4 is a well estab-
lished, top quality choice for circuit board material. However, what you will see in the PhonoBlock is
over the top. At 1/8” thickness, PhonoBlock circuit boards are twice as thick as normally seen. Indi-
vidual parts are anchored from any mechanical movement.
PRINTED CIRCUIT DIELECTRIC:
Anytime two conductors are at a different voltage potential, there is an electric field generated between
them. The dielectric (the insulation between conductors) within that field become involved in charge
storage. If not carefully considered, that extra charge storage can time smear details of a musical
signal. Circuit board material is a dielectric. With normal double-sided construction, there are copper
conductors on each side of the board. Uninten-
tionally, a new capacitor is introduced into the
circuit, formed by top surface copper, bottom
surface copper and the circuit board dielectric
sandwiched between the two. It is NOT the
quality of capacitor we want to have in a high-
end signal path. Some manufactures make
the situation even worse by going to multi-layer
boards in the analog audio sections. Instead
of two layers of copper, there are four or more
layers of copper. Even worse than that, the
dielectric between layers is much thinner and
the undesired capacitive effect is inversely pro-
portional to thickness. At best, some manufac-
tures make small, incremental improvements
by using exotic board material.
The PhonoBlocks addresses the issue of circuit board dielectric in a novel – yet elegantly simple way.
All signal carrying conductors are on the top plane of the circuit board. There are no copper conduc-
tors on the bottom plane, opposite signal carrying regions. Thus there are no electric fields generated
between top and bottom layers. The circuit board dielectric is not exposed to electric fields and there is
no undesired storage in circuit board material. The circuit board dielectric is not improved ---------- it is
removed. It is as if a window were behind you, instead of in front of you. It is still there, but not in the
way of clarity.