Best Buys Audio & AV 2019-#2AMPLIFICATION
A small box working on small signals can have a big effect on your
turntable sound. Pro-Ject’s Phono Box S2 not only proves itself a fine
custodian of phono signals, it delivers unexpectedly versatility.
39
T
his unassuming little box, just
12cm wide and 3cm high, can
have a profound effect on your hi-fi
sound. It’s an offboard phono stage,
an amplifier dedicated to the output of a
turntable, raising the tiny signals generated by
the stylus and cartridge up to the levels required
for the line-level inputs of an amplifier.
EQUIPMENT
The Phono Box S2 is part of Pro-Ject’s S2 line,
and is described as the company’s ‘Best Buy’
phono stage; there is one below it in Pro-Ject’s
range but several larger and more complex-looking
phono stages above it in the company’s DS2 range,
including models which use valves. Compared
with these, the little S2 looks exceedingly simple,
with just one button on the front to power it up
and down, while at the rear (pictured below) it has
the input sockets for the turntable, including the
grounding screw, plus the output sockets to your
amplifier. Add the input from the supplied 18V
power transformer, and a single button which is a
subsonic filter (or ‘rumble filter’ as they used to be
called), and that’s your lot.
Except — well, there should be one more
button. The Phono Box S2 is listed as suitable for
both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges,
and these require very different gain/EQ circuits
applied. There must surely be a switch between
these two options?
The answer lies underneath — not one switch,
but 16 of them, in two ranks of eight little DIP
switches. Each set should be set the same way, as
they affect left and right channels individually in
this dual-mono design. Labels next to the switches
(see below right) indicate that the first three of
each row are used to set the gain to four possible
levels, between 40dB and 63dB. The next three
set the input impedance (10/100/1000 ohms or
a combination), and the final two set the input
capacitance (this, however, becomes an irrelevance
for low-output moving coil cartridges).Before you panic as to cartridge complexities,
these are just specifications that you should be able
to find easily by looking up your cartridge online,
or in the information that came with it. Then
refer to Pro-Ject’s S2 manual, which explains
the combinations achievable for capacitance in
particular (it’s not as simple as adding up the
switch values) and also lists a few helpful examples
for particular Ortofon cartridges.
So the Pro-Ject Phono Box S2 looks simple,
but those DIP switches actually make it impres-
sively configurable for specific cartridges.
And of course Pro-Ject knows a thing or two
about cartridges and turntables. Its founder Heinz
Lichtenegger invested in Czech turntable factories
when vinyl was on the way out. Since its revival,
Pro-Ject has been in a unique position to lead the
market in turntables, arms and phono electronics.PHONO PRE-AMPLIFIER