VPI VOYAGER PHONO STAGE

US turntable manufacturer VPI has added a phono preamplifier to its line-up, which is hardly surprising since it recently added designer Mike Bettinger to its team—Bettinger being the designer of the Arion Phono Preamplifier for Luminous Audio Technology.

The VPI ‘Voyager’ phono preamplifier is a dual-input design that offers multiple gain and load settings for both moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges. ‘ The goal of the Voyager is to create an easy phono option for music lovers getting involved in the VPI line,’ said Mathew Weisfeld, of VPI. ‘ Voyager has been designed using VPI turntables and is naturally synergistic with our line. In addition, the Voyager gives customers who might own a different turntable brand a chance to join the VPI family through our phono preamplifier. The result is that the Voyager presents a sense of purity and low-level detail resolution that is highly musical.’

The VPI Voyager is a two-stage design, with a JFET-based input stage and passive equalisation for the high-frequency RIAA eq. The second stage provides an additional 24dB of gain and provides active lowfrequency RIAA equalisation. ‘ The circuit layout is a work of engineering art and the result of many years of study and experimentation,’ said Bettinger. ‘ The design is intentionally symmetrical and single-ended and both stages are based on matched cascoded Linear Systems JFETS and are servo-controlled.’ All gain and load setting are made via front-panel control, with the MM section’s capacitive loading selectable between 100pF, 200pF and 270pF. The MC section’s load is selectable between 100 , 500 and 1k . Cameron Pope, of Krispy Audio, which distributes VPI says the first VPI Voyagers to arrive in Australia will retail in Australia for around $4,195. For more information, contact VPI’s Australian distributor, Krispy Audio, on (02) 8006 4666 or at www.krispyaudio.com.au