Audio M9 Phono User Manual

!

M9 Phono

!

PRE AMPLIFIER

!

OWNER’S INFORMATION

1) IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

2) CE DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY
DISPOSAL
POWER REQUIREMENTS

3) INTRODUCTION

4) OVERVIEW

5) UNPACKING AND INSTALLATION

6) CONNECTION

14) OPERATION

15) TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

16) WARRANTY INFORMATION

17) CONTACT INFORMATION

CONTENTS

OTHER SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: -

Never touch the power cord with wet hands.

Always remove the power cord by grasping the plug, not the cable.

Never expose the unit to excessive heat or magnetism.

Never let an inexperienced person repair or reassemble the unit.

Never put anything, especially metal objects, inside the unit.

Never place excessive weight on the unit.

Do not store or operate this unit in areas of high humidity or in close
proximity to water / moisture.

Do not expose or immerse the unit in liquid of any kind.

This product generates high levels of heat. Adequate ventilation must
be provided. Do not restrict airflow through any ventilation slots or
place the unit on any surface that may restrict airflow.

Valve equipment operates at extremely high temperatures;

KEEP OUT OF THE REACH OF CHILDREN AND ANIMALS.!

RISK OF SHOCK OR ELECTROCUTION! INTERNAL OPERATING
VOLTAGES ARE LETHAL!

Do not remove top cover, unless specifically instructed to do so in the user
manual.

This unit contains fuses and other safety components in accordance with
BS60065 requirements.
In the event of failure, replacement fuse or safety component must be of
the same part type and value.

This product must be earthed – ensure that the mains supply cable earth /
ground is correctly connected.

SUCH REPLACEMENT MUST ONLY BE CARRIED OUT BY A
QUALIFIED SERVICE TECHNICIAN.

Do not attempt to replace any fuses without first disconnecting the unit
from the mains electricity supply.

! IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION !

POWER REQUIREMENTS

Power requirements for electrical equipment vary depending on your geographical
location. Please ensure that your unit meets the power requirements in your area.
The power requirement for your unit is marked on the serial number plate, located on
the rear panel.

If you are in doubt, please contact your dealer before plugging the unit into the mains
supply.

CE DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY

DISPOSAL

This product must not be disposed of as normal household waste. To
prevent possible harm to the environment please separate the product
from other waste to ensure that it can be recycled in an environmentally
safe manner. Please contact your retailer or the appropriate local
government office for collection facilities.

We declare under our sole responsibility that this product is in conformity
with the following standards or standardized documents:

BS EN 60065 in accordance with the regulations 73/23/EEC, 89/336/EEC
(from 1 January 1997)

CE 94

Peter Qvortrup,
Director
Audio Note (UK) Limited
25 Montefiore Road
Hove
East Sussex
BN3 1RD
United Kingdom

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Thank you for purchasing this Audio Note (UK) product. With the correct care it
should give you many years of pleasure and enjoyment.

Please take the time to read all of the information in this manual before connecting
your new component to an electrical supply or your system, to ensure both your
safety and satisfaction.

Please note that due to our desire to continually improve products, specifications are
subject to change without notice. Therefore it is important to refer to the manual that
is supplied with your product for the most accurate information; manuals downloaded
from our website or obtained from other sources may no longer fully apply to your
product.

If you have any questions regarding the information contained within this document
or your new component, please feel free to contact us: -

Audio Note (UK) Limited

25 Montefiore Road

Hove

East Sussex

BN3 1RD

United Kingdom

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

e-mail: [e-mail]

INTRODUCTION

Congratulations on your purchase of the Audio Note (UK) M9 Phono Pre Amplifier. It
is without doubt or question, the finest Phonostage equipped preamplifier we have
ever produced, and the Line Stage is only surpassed in performance by our own M10
Line. As one would expect, no expense has been spared in the construction of the
circuit or the components used, and is a full Audio Note (UK) Level 5 product.

It is well known that the accurate reproduction of music, not just sound, requires the
purity of the incoming signal to be preserved. It is therefore not difficult to conclude
that, in order to achieve this goal and to retain the musicality of the original
performance, the complexity of the circuitry itself must be kept to a minimum.
In response to this, the M9 Phono preamplifier uses a single-ended, zero feedback
circuit topology. This is simply the most linear design possible, demanding pure
Class A valve operation and removing the need for a phase splitter, which introduces
unnecessary crossover distortion.

In contrast to the majority of the audio industry, we design our circuits with the aim of
minimising non-harmonic and time base anomalies, rather than producing
vanishingly small harmonic or low intermodulation distortion measurements. These
non-harmonic amplitude and time base distortions have a highly perceptible and
adverse affect on the signal waveform, and it is far more important to address these
factors than participate in the increasingly irrelevant numbers game that chases
‘perfect measured response’.

As a result, the M9 Phono was designed for maximum linearity and minimum
transient distortion, and avoids the need for detrimental ‘corrective’ measures, such
as inherently error-prone feedback loops.

The phonostage installed in the M9 Phono is without equal or parallel, and uses the
finest possible components to produce a sound quality that is truly outstanding.

Unlike the majority of preamplifiers available today, the M9 Phono preamplifier is
equipped with a ‘Stereo / Mono’ switch, to maximize the performance and enjoyment
of the large quantity of high quality mono recordings that are still available.

The M9 Phono features a pair of correctly engineered balanced / XLR inputs for
sources with suitable balanced outputs. Each input is connected directly to an in­house custom designed and produced, silver wired input transformer, which offers
the finest possible input for your XLR Line level source outputs.

Each stage of the preamplifier is powered by an independent power supply, housed
in a separate chassis chassis. As one would expect, the output transformers for the
M9 Phono are some of the finest possible examples we can produce. Each
transformer is fully silver wound, and feature our own 55% nickel iron C-Cores.

M9 PHONO PRE AMPLIFIER