THE vinyl race has never been as intense as it is now, with new horses entering the race, old horses reviving their stables and the never-say-die ones keeping their noses abreast of the pack. Cary Audio belongs to the last category, and to reinforce its commitment to vinyl, the company that is renowned for its tube amplifiers now offers a new phono preamplifier, the VT-500. And yes, it is valve-equipped.
The single-ended Class A VT-500 uses four 6SL7 dual triode tubes; a single 5AR4 rectifier tube, along with the fully regulated power supply section, is housed in an external heavy-duty chassis for extremely quiet operation.
The phono preamp employs an RIAA equalisation curve derived from a passive RC circuit located between the two gain stages.
Gain for the MM stage is 38dB, and for the MC stage, 65dB. For the latter, the selectable load values are 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 ohms; for MM, it is the standard 47kOhms.
The VT-500 is available in a fine, textured black powder-coat, aluminium chassis, with a choice of a black or silver anodised aluminium faceplate.
Listed at US$5,495, the VT-500 is already shipping, so get to your dealer now.
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