He Phono Box S3 B is a new proposal from Pro-Ject Audio Systems for those who want to optimize the integration of turntables and pickup cartridges for the most competitive price possible. A newly designed steel and aluminum chassis with aluminum buttons forms the starting point for high-performance electronics. unmistakably audiophile soul that dazzles by the refinement of its engineering. Thus, the Phono Box S3 B combines a double monophonic architecture with a fully balanced gain stage (hence the “B” in its name). Let us point out that balanced transmissions are characterized by including two signals, + and -, which carry exactly the same musical information.
In the specific case of a gain stage This means that the final musical information is extracted by adding said + and – signals, while the potential noise present throughout the transmission is eliminated by canceling each other after inverting their phase. On the other hand, having two separate signal chains, it is necessary to have two individual amplification sections and therefore the number of components required is doubled. This leads to the second key feature of Pro-Ject’s new phono preamplifier: the exclusive use of discrete components (that is, individual and therefore not integrated into “chips”) in the aforementioned gain stage, in order to obtain a sound that is as natural and dynamic as possible.
The third technical singularity of the Phono Box S3 B is found in the RIAA equalization stagesemi-passive type and in which the balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (RCA) signals coming from the gain stage are treated separately, which means that the user can connect two turntables simultaneously while memorizing the settings of key adaptation parameters. As far as the revenue, 4 are the possible options (40,45, 60 and 65 dB), while for the load impedance there are 5 (10, 50, 100, 1,000 and 47,000 ohms) and for the load capacitance 4 (50 , 150, 300 and 400 pF). Thanks to this, the new Pro-Ject is compatible with a very wide range of pickup capsules, while the compatibility with exceptionally low values of the load capacitance (50 pF) and the load impedance (10 ohms) allows facing special situations, such as the use of capacitance phono cables. elevated. Finally, let us point out that the Phono Box S3 B is handcrafted in Europe.
