Wow, thanks Chad! The Sutherland battery-powered Phono Preamp is here!

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Steve Hoffman, Dec 15, 2003.

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  1. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    I love receiving stuff in the mail. Today I got a BIG and heavy box from Acoustic Sounds. I thought maybe it was my raise, all in coins, but no. :)

    It's the Sutherland Ph.D. Phono Preamp. Fully battery powered! 16 D cell batteries instead of a power cord. Why? NO NOISE! Karla laughed when she saw all of the batteries and wondered how long the thing would go before a battery change. I read in the manual "800 hours". Cool!

    The thing is nice looking and a lot heavier than the picture would indicate. I've only listened for a short time today but the thing sounds very nice and totally dead quiet. So quiet that I didn't even think it was on until the music came blasting out (that'll teach me to NOT turn the volume up too high until the music starts!)

    Now, for $3,000.00 it ought to sound damn good and it does, but the main thing for me is the dead quiet operation. I think this is the first time that I am not hearing the hiss/hum of the phono stage coming through the speakers. It's quite disconcerting but it's spoiling me for any other phono stage! The unit turns on and off by itself; all we have to do is set the needle in the groove and it's on. It will stay on for 1/2 hour if it hears no signal and then the yellow light comes on telling me that it is going to close down soon.

    Inside the unit are the control adjustments for customizing the unit to your cartridge. Very easy to use.

    The designer, Ron Sutherland" has come up with a really neat phono stage. Made right here in the US of A.

    I'm going to have fun previewing this unit in the coming months.

    http://store.acousticsounds.com/store.cfm?Title_ID=11728&do=detail
     

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  2. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    Santa came early - you musta been a good boy!
     
  3. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Rowland electronics uses battery powered components as well. Just think, in a power outage one can still listen to music!
     
  4. Sckott

    Sckott Hand Tighten Only.

    Location:
    South Plymouth, Ma
    That's a neat toy. A lot of good thought went into it, and Acoustic Sounds has a lot of good reviews in it.

    The lights tell you quite a bit, When to change the batteries, when the unit will power down.... Neato!
     
  5. Todd Fredericks

    Todd Fredericks Senior Member

    Location:
    A New Yorker
    Please keep us updated on your experience with this phonostage. I've read a lot about it on the net. Sutherland designed the AcousTech PH-1 I currently own and love....

    Here's a snap of the inside of the Ph.D (love those batteries)
     

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  6. AudioEnz

    AudioEnz Senior Member

    So they're just ordinary, shop bought batteries? Every battery powered component I've seen before has a difficult to find and expensive battery pack inside.
     
  7. Tullman

    Tullman Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Oh man, if one of those batteries leak, what a disaster!:sigh:
     
  8. GabeG

    GabeG New Member

    Location:
    NYC

    That's why you use alkaline.
     
  9. Alan T

    Alan T Senior Member

    Location:
    Phoenix
    They should of used NiMH D Cell Batteries.
     
  10. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Update: After about 5 hours straight listening, I'm quite excited about this thing. It really sucks me in to the music. And it hasn't even broken in yet...
     
  11. Todd Fredericks

    Todd Fredericks Senior Member

    Location:
    A New Yorker
    Steve, that is fantastic!! It's always great news to hear great thumbs up about a new piece of gear! :)
     
  12. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    It's expensive, but if one has the money, I would say that this was a true gem of a phono stage.
     
  13. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    Whatcha playin'? 13th Floor Elevators' Psychedelic Sounds, Esquerita's lone long player on Capitol, that tasty Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio ultra rarity, The Fenrdermen's Muleskinner Blues on Soma???
     
  14. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Actually a great but obscure RCA Living Stereo LP entitled "The Music Of Victor Herbert". I paid a dollar for it. One would think it's gonna stink but actually it is quite wonderful; possibly the best sounding LS I've ever heard...
     
  15. indy mike

    indy mike Forum Pest

    Uh oh - a stampede of folks looking for that tirle will now commence - do you have any of the beauties I mentioned? Hi-fi - nope; hi-fun - yep!
     
  16. RetroSmith

    RetroSmith Forum Hall Of Fame<br>(Formerly Mikey5967)

    Location:
    East Coast
    How many hours would alkaline batteries last?
     
  17. Michael St. Clair

    Michael St. Clair Forum Resident

    Location:
    Funkytown
    Plug a battery-powered headphone amp into it and listen to some music playback that is completely free of influence by the AC grid. :)
     
  18. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    If you are in the market for a phono stage and have the money, I can't recommend this highly enough. It makes me want to listen to vinyl all the time. What could be better than that?
     
  19. Guy from Ohio

    Guy from Ohio Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    How does it compare to the PH-1P?
    Are the batteries really worth an extra $1500?
     
  20. vinyl anachronist

    vinyl anachronist Senior Member

    Location:
    Lakeside, Oregon
    Well, I'm sure it's worth $1500 to have an absolutely dead silent phono stage. I have heard that the battery-powered amps don't do the deep bass thing really well, and don't handle really loud passages, either. Michael Fremer also gave a slightly mixed review to it in the latest Stereophile. Every other reviewer really loves this thing, however; it's definitely on my short list of new phono stages, along with the Tom Evans' The Groove, the Aesthetix Rhea, and the one from Grover!

    Now, the real comparison should probably be between the PhD and the Linn Linto, which has the rep for being super, super quiet. And, it's only $1600.
     
  21. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Mikey did not say this?

    "The moving-coil (MC) Ph.D., available from Chad Kassem's Acoustic Sounds operation, is a monumental achievement that, for me, sets new standards for the cleanness and transparency possible in a phono preamp - and I've had a lot of experience with phono preamps.

    The Sutherland Ph.D. is one of the best-sounding phono preamplifiers I've heard...if you like a full, lush presentation, pure as the driven snow and set against ink-black backdrops the likes of which you've never heard, the Ph.D. might be for you.

    The Sutherland Ph.D. will let you play in the majors for a stiff but minor-league price. If Acoustic Sounds offers a money-back guarantee on the Ph.D. and you're shopping for something around $3,000, the Ph.D. should be at the top of your list. It is a unique, unforgettable-sounding phono preamplifier." - Michael Fremer, Analog Corner, Stereophile, January 2004, pgs. 40-42.
     
  22. vinyl anachronist

    vinyl anachronist Senior Member

    Location:
    Lakeside, Oregon
    Looking at it again, he does give it a really good review. For some reason, the first time through, I focused on:

    "The PhD had its weaknesses. With its general delicacy and liquidity came a tendency toward soft, somewhat overripe, but nicely extended bass."

    "The last thing the PhD needed was MORE relaxation."

    "It's not perfect, and it has a particular character, though part of that character is simply its unusual purity and delicacy. If you like a tight, snappy sound, the PhD won't be to your liking."

    But then he wraps it up by saying, "It is a unique, unforgettable-sounding phono preamplifier."

    I guess the problem is that Mikey spent too much time with the $29,000 Boulder 2008, and everything has to measure up to that. He said that the
    Tom Evans' The Groove, for example, sounded compressed in comparison, when that is a truly outstanding phono stage, one of the very best. But Mikey definitely says the PhD is at the top of the list for $3000 phono preamps.
     
  23. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Heh, my Joule Electra two-piece phono stage has overripe bass. Compared to that, the Ph.D. is lean. :)
     
  24. vinyl anachronist

    vinyl anachronist Senior Member

    Location:
    Lakeside, Oregon
    Mikey really isn't much of a tube guy anyway.

    I've been working on an article on phono preamps, and I've heard almost twenty in the last few weeks. I've wanted to buy two or three of 'em, too! I haven't heard the PhD yet, but I definitely wanted to mention it because it's battery-powered. Now I can say Steve Hoffman loves his!
     
  25. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Let us know when it's published. I'd love to read it and I'm sure the gang would as well.
     
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