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Line One - Release Information - 2013
Line One - Release Information - 2013
Chief Designer Bill Hutchins has complete LKV's second product, the Line One pre-amplifier. It was an all-out effort designed to complement its older sibling the Phono 2-SB. Together they deliver state-of-the-art reproduction of recorded music.
The Line 2-SB's gain stage is a zero feedback, differential (balanced) amplifier, executed with low noise JFETs (Junction Field Effect Transistors). The JFET amplifiers are biased with a cascode topology and current source circuitry achieving low distortion without feedback. All JFETs are hand-matched to the same strict tolerance as are those in our phono preamp: +/- 0.1 mA max current (IDSS). Tight matching both lowers distortion and greatly increases the common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) that cancels incoming noise. Output is via a high current follower circuit in which the JFETs are matched and biased in the same fashion. An independently-adjustable, stepped attenuator, constructed using fixed resistors, controls volume. Power regulation and filter circuitry as well the signal handling circuitry are contained on 4-layer circuit boards, one for each channel.
The Line One has considerable operating flexibility. It accepts balanced or single-ended inputs and delivers its output in either mode as well. It has two user-selectable gain settings: 4 dB and 10 dB in both balanced and single-ended.
The Line One sounds mates extraordinary well with its sibling, the Phono 2-SB; as well as other phono stages. In our listening sessions it took the clarity and resolving power of the 2-SB to slightly higher levels. On familiar orchestral recordings individual instruments and sections of orchestra were even easier to distinguish and image: the sound stage opened up, with more depth and space around individual performers. The attack, decay and reverberation of a plucked string was rendered with astonish slightly more detailed and interesting.
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