Aural Thrills Audio Tube MM/MC Phono Amplifier Audiophile Model

All Tube Stand Alone Phono Stage MM/MC

Made in USA

Phono stages are very special to me. I have a large record collection and
never made the switch to digital. I had a field day when everyone was selling
their record to Goodwill. $1 each. I fear these good old days are over as others
are discovering the magic of vinyl. I have been building phono amps for many
years and have tried many and built many others. I like the low output moving
coil cartridges best, as do most people. It has the most detail and you are
there feeling for my ears. Unfortunately low output cartridges need extra gain
over Moving Magnet cartridges. Many people use a step up transformer. It steps
up the voltage at the expense of losing current. It is known to be very quiet
but in my opinion sounds flat and loses much of the beauty. Other designs use a
small solid state amplifier chip for the extra gain that a moving coil needs.
These usually sound worse than the transformer. My favorite is to use tubes for
all of the amplification. The main downfall of this approach is that tubes can
be noisy. Phono amps multiply the signal many times over. Much more than other
types of amps. Noise is multiplied as well. So what is the solution? I have
found that there are a few ways of making an all tube phono stage quiet. I now
offer three versions for your pleasure. You can see them at
www.auralthrillsaudio.com

All three use the same design features and all three
sound great. The difference between Stages are the quality of the parts used.
You can buy capacitors that range from $1 to over $200 for the same value.
These prices are outrageous, but you can hear a big difference. The higher
priced components are richer, fuller, and just more beautiful sounding. I have
chosen a proven design and then carried it out with high end parts. The result
is what a record should sound like.

Here are the latest customer reviews:

06/17/2015

Just wanted to let you know I received the unit

in great shape. I am leaving in the morning on vacation and won/t get to

listen much until I get back. From what I have listened so far, all I can


say is awesome, awesome, awesome. I will just rotate my Moving coil

cartridges. I have some older preamps for MM. Other cartridge I have is Low


output moving coil Grado Sonata. Haven/t tried it yet. Thanks for

everything. Don/t know what brand of tubes are in it, but they sound

excellent to me. David.

Here is another one.

Hi Tom

I changed the setting back to M C @ 100 ohms after trying a higher setting,I
took the sot out of the configuration, I warmed the amp up with one side of
Bach and then I played my reference album, Dark side of the moon.

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD this would equal  the most discerning systems at any cost,
the separation and darkness of the sound stage just blew my mind I am not
changing the cartridge, it could use a little more mv output to be perfect but
it is not worth the effort as this turntable is a bear to change. Thank you
for leading me away from the H O M C, I did buy the denon 103 r and I am going
to install that on a Thorens 160 that is being refurbished and up graded with
todays technology or possibly a VPI classic if I can get the right price on
that and sneak it into the house so my wife doesn't see it.

At any rate I could not be happier with this very fine pre amp you would be
hard pressed to find one that functions as flawless at any price. It is a
great product and you are a absolute pleasure to deal with.

I will send you the tracking # when I go to the post office, but now It is
Beatles time

Thanks

Here is another review just received:

Douglas Robert Hounsell <1blues4fun@

Fri, Oct 17, 2014 at 2:25 PM





To: Tom Kenny <[email protected]>










Good afternoon Tom,
The preamp is here and I must say I am quite impressed with the
build quality and construction of piece. First rate and it looks
great in the rack. However looks aside after plumbing it up into
system the real proof of your Phono pre with the balanced outs
is what really matters to me!  After listening to a MFSL Rolling
Stones “Let it Bleed” I was quite pleased, then on to Stealy
Dans “Aja” I  was rapidly becoming an Aural Thrills Audio fan
big time. The punch combined with a subtle smoothness is
magnificent. Lower register notes on piano are outrageous clean,
tight and dominate. I am fully aware how difficult it can be to
accomplish this as I worked my tail off with Leon Russell’s
engineer one evening getting this very thing “right” at a show I
produced and engineered some years ago. Thank you for your
devotion to what matters in your craft. Perfection takes its
toil on the less passionate but their always will be folks like
me that understand and appreciate folks like you. Now on to the
Beach Boys “Pet Sounds”

Thanks Again

Doug Hounsell
[Quoted text hidden]

 

Hi Tom,

Yes I received the pre amp in good condition and I sent you a response on Ebay
for your product.



I set it up and it sounds great! I've invested in an affordable LP vinyl
washing system, and with a modified vac system, my record collection has been
given new life!



The Marantz SR8001 amp and Technics SP15 turntable/Grado cartridge are
sounding really clean with your phono stage.



Thank you for your excellent workmanship.



Best,



Phil

Tom,



Received the amp and plugged it in to the CD input of my Yamaha A-S700 amp. I
have a Yaquin MC-100B that’s been modified by a tech in Australia and a pair
of Sonus Faber Concertinos, but all unfortunately still in storage.

I am listening to some Australian country music, the hairs on the back of my
neck are standing up - I’ve honestly never heard it sound so clear, present
and detailed.

Can’t wait to spend some quality time with your preamp. Maybe I’ll just plug
the headphones in and kick back for a couple hours….

Thanking you, sir.



Shawn.

 

Picked it up this afternoon. I've attached a picture of the phono
section opened that Tom sent me while it was still on his bench.
I'll do more pics and the power section later. I have to say, even
not being broken in at all, the sound is really impressive and a
perfect match for the rest of my set up. Running analog direct,
the level of detail, the air around each instrument, the
extension, the tightness of the bass, the depth of the sound
stage, all are incredible. It was a real bargain at the price I
paid, too. All I need now is an Emission Labs 274B and time to
break it in.

• 
  
  
  
  
  Now that I'm getting a few hundred hours on the caps and other
  components, it's time for a bit more of a review and a few more
  pics.
  
  
  
  First, Tom at ATA was great to work with. He answered all my
  questions and helped me make decisions on a completely custom,
  hand-built, phono stage. As you can see in the first pic, the
  signal path consists of Mundorf S/O as the output coupling,
  along with Sonicaps and silver mica caps in the passive RIAA
  section, with Mills resistors. Electrolytics are used only for
  the radio frequency filtering, which is outside the signal path.
  Everything except the Mundorfs are part of the standard 100
  dollar upgrade (normal price for the stage is 899, 999 for the
  upgraded version). Those ran an extra 200 on top of the upgrade.
  I also decided to go with a choke input on the 274B rectified
  power supply, and a linear power supply instead of a switching
  after talking to Tom about the pros and cons of each. I'm also
  now running his recommended Amperex 12AX7s, which I really like.
  Into this, I'm running an Empire 2x8 fitted with a Rega arm
  that's been heavily upgraded and a Shelter 501 Mk II cart using
  a Baerwald (sp?) alignment for Rega arms. The phono IC comes
  from the Cardas DIN to custom solid silver cables w/ WBTs, and
  out from the pre via a custom cable that's a single silver and a
  single copper 28 ga. OCC strand twisted together w/ DH Labs RCAs
  and cotton insulators. That feeds out into my Pio SC-05 and out
  via analog direct into my Mackie's then to my RTi12s @ 850 wpc.
  So that's the setup.
  
  
  
  The sound is very balanced, with many good qualities, and no bad
  ones that I can hear. The sound stage is quite wide and deep,
  and instruments have a very nice space, but they sound neither
  big nor pinpoint. Instead, instruments sound life-sized. Vocals
  have a good weight to them, and it's very easy to count the
  number of singers when multiple vocalists come in. A good
  example of this is the 2nd track on Jackson Brown's Running On
  Empty, where there's a close harmony between 3 male vocalists.
  On my old Parasound, I thought it was a weird mix where
  Jackson's voice was spread all the way across the sound stage.
  After hooking up the Aural Thrills Audio stage, I was able to
  discern that it was actually 3 different vocalists in close
  harmony, with Jackson mixed center, and one voice mixed into the
  left channel, and one into the right. Female vocals also receive
  very good treatment. Ella and Aretha are even more engaging than
  ever. It's especially fun picking out which vocalists have good
  mic technique, and which one's tend to lean into and away from
  the mic while singing. Cymbals ring for a ridiculously long time
  through even the densest tracks, and have plenty of that brassy
  shine to them that you hear if you strike a cymbal yourself.
  It's even easy to discern where on the cymbal it's being played,
  down to how far from the bell the drummer is striking it, and
  exactly which type it is (ride, china, etc.). Drums have amazing
  slam, with a deep, tight bass. I find myself listening to
  Rolling Stone Under Cover just to listen to the drums. Also easy
  to hear is the ring of the drum head after being hit, as well as
  the transient from the strike. Bass guitars and bass violas,
  whether plucked or bowed, sound fantastic. Deep, lots of
  overtones, just like they're in the room. Acoustic guitars (and
  all wood-bodied instruments) again sound very realistic. Picking
  out a small bodied acoustic, or a dreadnought, etc., all are
  quite readily distinguishable. Violins and other stringed
  classical instruments have a very slight sweetness to them, but
  again, the wood of the body is clearly distinguishable
  especially during solo passages, but also during denser
  passages. Horns all have their own proper sound, and the breath
  of the player can easily be heard when wind or reed instruments
  are present. It's especially fun to listen to pieces with both
  flutes and piccolos present, since the tonal differences are so
  readily apparent. Finally, piano pieces sound excellent, right
  down to the hammer striking the strings. So in short, this pre
  wasn't cheap, but it's an excellent value. I can't wait to see
  how it sound after another 200 hours.
  
  
  
  

 I have designed this unit for optimum sound and ease of use. It is capable
of delivering stunning performance in both MM and MC mode. The reason, it is
an all tube unit. No step up transformer needed. I have tried all types of MC
step up transformers and solid state amplifier devices for the critical first
gain for a MC cartridge. I have tried a high output MC cartridges so I did not
have to have the extra gain. Nothing sounded as good as a low output moving coil amplified by tubes.
  

A phono stage amplifies such a small starting signal that any outside
interference becomes a hum or other distortion. RFI/EMI becomes real problems
at these signal levels. Tube rush can also be a problem. I have worked years
to overcome these obstacles. The result is an amplifier that is dead quiet,
has great detail, and can play just about any type of cartridge made. Choose
between 55 or 66 db of gain. Cartridge loading is 47K MM and 100, 510, 1.3k,
and2.7k for MC.

I started with a commercially available board. I used a combination of  and Wima
capacitors and 1% film resistors. Included electrolytic capacitors are the new
Nichicon MUSE high end Audio grade. These provide a real high end sound.

KG Series


     



Nichicon KG Series, designed for high-grade
audio equipment,

offers three sound quality variations.
     

Features

 

• Capacitance range 680 to 33,000µF


• Voltage range 16V to 100V (Type I, Type II, and Type III)


• Temperature range -40ºC to +85ºC

These are awesome and make electrolytic capacitors
sound deep and rich. Four supplied NOS Brimar 12ax7 tubes provide plenty of quiet gain.
Take the cover off and you can adjust gain and cartridge loading with with
built in switches.

All traces on the board are made of Silver for detail and power. All tube
sockets are Gold plated for trouble free service. All parts are hand selected
to insure a large soundstage. Unit is completely regulated for quiet operation. It has that you are there quality.

 HOW CAN THIS AMP BE ANY GOOD AT THIS LOW
PRICE?

I have used commercially available boards
of a proven design to keep cost down. I have used a standard chassis instead
of paying hundreds for a custom job with printing. This allows me to buy
superior parts and still keep cost down. You will not find this unit anywhere
else. It may be the best deal in the audio business.

(Unit shown has
Stage III upgrades)

• Completely regulated current and voltage supplies


• Toroidal transformer for quiet operation


• RIAA circuit built in (radio industry association of America


• MC/MM


• Adjustable loading


• 4 X 12AX7 NOS Brtimar


• Sonic Craft/Wima film capacitors.


• PRP resistors


• Best sounding unit around


• Nichicon Muse electrolytic caps


• Gold tube sockets

I am aware that there are some derogatory
statements written about my amps on line. Unfortunately these never go away.
Only one of these critics was actually a customer of mine and if you read the
entire statement you will see that I refunded the purchase price, as well as shipping both
ways. Unfortunately I listed the amp in the wrong category. It should have been
listed for parts only. The rest of the posters had
purchased their amps SECOND HAND, not from me. One fellow went so far as to say
he completely modified the used unit he bought and then said it did not
sound good! I will admit that some of my early amps were not up to my present day standards. Please check the dates
on the postings. The first amps I built used point to point wiring, NO CIRCUIT
BOARDS. I have not built this type of amp in many years. I now use circuit
boards exclusively. This alleviates all the problems mentioned. Just examine the pictures closely of
my present day product and you will see that it is a professionally made unit. I
have learned a great deal over ten years while building hundreds of amplifiers. If you are not happy
just send it back and I will pay for shipping. It is that simple. Decide for
yourself. I have a 100% positive feedback on both Audiogon, Paypal and Ebay over 14
years.