Avid Pellar MM/MC Phone Stage

I am the original owner of this outstanding phono stage, which is in superb condition. Because I never really got into vinyl, I put less than 25 hours on it. Purchased from an authorized dealer. Kept it in a smoke-free house. I have the original box and all accessories. Shipping included to CONUS only. 

Product details: AVID is back with
their most affordable phono stage yet. A distillation of all the information
gleaned from making two outstanding phono stages, the Pellar is based on
AVID’s truly exceptional Pulsus phono preamp. Featuring the same circuit
topology, parts quality and solid construction as its big brothers, the Pellar
offers an astonishingly high level of performance at a fraction of the
price. Massive dynamic swings, astonishingly intimate, with a gorgeous tonal
balance and incredibly deep imaging, AVID has once again drawn a line in
the sand, challenging any manufacturer to deliver this level of performance at
any price, much less one this surprisingly affordable.

Power Supply

Long renowned as a
high-end manufacturer, AVID is uncompromising in their dedication to
making premium products, but the lower price of the Pellar required some
judicious choices to shave costs. Right away it became obvious that an external
power supply would be too expensive, so AVID engineered an all new
internal regulated power supply; small enough to fit inside the Pellar’s
compact dimensions, powerful enough to maintain rock-solid current delivery and
quiet enough to keep the noise floor to a vanishingly low level.

Gain Settings

Pellar offers three
different gain settings, 48dB (MM), 60dB (MC Low) and 70dB (MC High).
The lowest gain setting is ideal for MM and High Output MC cartridges. 60dB is
sufficient for most MC cartridges over 0.4mV and 70dB will drive virtually
every MC cartridge available. These gain settings are changed via DIP
switches on the underbelly of the unit.

MC Loading Options

Complexity drives up cost
and offering a wide variety of loading options for MC cartridges is
complicated. To keep the circuit simple but retain ultimate flexibility, AVID chose
to use the custom resistor load circuit from their reference Pulsare phono
preamp. Included with Pellar are a pair of RCA plugs, each
is preloaded with a 500Ω resistor. Simply plugging these RCA plugs
into the top two black RCAs instantly loads Pellar to 500Ω. Should a different
value be desired, a quick trip to the local Radio Shack will provide access to
a near limitless selection of loading options. Simply unsolder the
500Ω resistor from each metal RCAs and swap it out for the desired value; e.g.
100Ω 1/4Watt resistor equals 100Ω cartridge loading, 1,000Ω resistor 1/4Watt
resistor equals 1kΩ cartridge loading. Elegant, inexpensive and extremely
effective.