Sutherland Insight LPS MM/MC Phono Preamplifier Reveals What Makes Playing Vinyl Special: Linear Power Supply and Dual-Mono Circuit Board Among Engineering Feats

Elevated by a linear power supply originally designed for the company's cost-no-object products, the Sutherland Insight LPS MM/MC phono preamplifier may be the most aptly named phono preamplifier on the high-end market. Like all Sutherland models, Insight embraces austere design principles and attention-to-detail exactness. Remarkably quiet, supremely natural, and emotionally expressive, Insight LPS penetrates deep into the details, nuances, and tones that make vinyl LPs unique listening experiences. You'll hear dead-quiet backgrounds, glorious instrumental textures, and quicker-than-Usain-Bolt transients. Insight LPS' harmonious construction – a dual-mono circuit board, cold-rolled steel chassis, and gold-plated header pins and shunts – marries with five available gain and loading settings for tremendous convenience.

The new linear power supply further raises the spectacle of a model on Stereophile's vaunted Recommended Components list. Improving AC power line isolation, filtering, and regulation, thereby giving the audio circuits an optimal DC power foundation, the linear power supply lets the music flow with significantly enhanced purity and authority. Straightforward in simplicity, stability, and reliability, it contains no active voltage series regulators that add undesired colorations—and produces no switching regulator noise that pollutes the quality of AC power. Audiophile-grade capacitors and resistors crown a U.S.A.-built jewel that could easily justify a far steeper asking price. We guarantee you'll love what you hear.

"I was impressed by the Insight's iron grip on melodic lines, and the beautifully elastic way it followed the dynamics of the piece..."
– Art Dudley, Stereophile, Recommended Component

User-Friendly Configuration Makes Sonic Sense
Conventional designs use inexpensive, low-quality computer rocker switches. Their design is inadequate for configuring the low-level signal from a phono cartridge. To offer the user a wide range of configurations while maintaining signal integrity, Insight uses gold-plated header pins and gold-plated shunts. They offer high-pressure and large surface area contacts. Each channel has two configuration headers: One to select cartridge loading and another to select gain. When changing configuration, be sure to set each channel to the same value. Options are printed directly on the circuit board next to the configuration headers.

Inside the Linear Power Supply
With the linear power supply, the power transformer is toroidal for minimal radiated magnetic field, which itself gets further reduced by connecting the primary windings in series rather than parallel. As a result, the transformer flux density is reduced to half of its normal value. The transformer's AC output is full wave rectified, current limited, and applied to a first stage shunt regulator—an approach that gives the first stage of voltage regulation and smooths the current waveform drawn thru the transformer. The usual current spikes become much more sinusoidal in shape—and are not injected back into the power line nor project a radiated noise field. The first cut at regulation is followed by several stages of R-C pi filtering, a passive approach proven in other Sutherland designs. Another DC shunt regulator is applied near the audio circuitry.

Why Sutherland Engineering Is Different and Why It Matters
Ron Sutherland found the inspiration for his illustrious line of phono preamplifiers in the topography of Kansas. As a college student there, he observed the state's tall grass prairies and uncomplicated beauty. The Sutherland Engineering founder also fell in love with the Midwestern work ethic. He incorporates these purist albeit elusive qualities into his designs, which epitomize a disciplined approach focused on perfectionist-minded refinement, straightforward schematics, and professional-instrument-caliber craftsmanship. Embracing a "superior quality through simplicity" credo, Sutherland products avoid coloration, clutter, and contamination at all costs. What remains are U.S.-built components that ensure nothing stands between you and your music.