Sutherland Little Loco
MC Phono Preamplifier
Sutherland Little Loco
MC Phono Preamplifier
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You may have noticed a new kind of phono preamp design on the market—usually referred to as ‘current input’. Until recently, this approach has been very much in the background. But, listeners and reviewers are now giving it some serious consideration. And many love what they hear. The Sutherland little LOCO is our realization of this approach. From the first moments of listening, the musicality is stunning—spacious, effortless & full.
The first transimpedance phono preamp from Sutherland is the PHONO LOCO. It is an all out expression. Every design element was chosen for performance. AND it performs beautifully. There naturally followed the challenge to bring a big measure of that performance to a lower priced model. So there was a technology trickle down from PHONO LOCO to little LOCO. Glad to report the price went down quickly. The performance level will still seductively pull you into the music.
A Bit of History
Sutherland has been making phono preamps for a good long time. By focusing almost exclusively on phono preamps, our design and circuitry has benefited from continued refinement and improvement over the years. All of those designs were based upon voltage amplification. The cartridge delivers a small voltage to the phono preamp input. This voltage is then multiplied to create a larger output voltage (along with RIAA EQ). A typical voltage multiplier of 1,000 can also be expressed as 60 dB.
You may have also noticed a new kind of phono preamp design— usually referred to as ‘current input’. Until recently, that approach has been very much in the background. But, listeners and reviewers are now giving it some serious consideration. And many love what they hear.
Current Input
In short, the input signal comes from the current flowing through the cartridge, NOT the voltage from the cartridge. That current information is the input for a transimpedance gain stage. I.e. the input signal is current and the output signal is voltage.
Linking into your System
The connections on the back panel of the little LOCO appear totally conventional. There is the usual IEC input for the power cord, a ground screw for grounding the turntable, and two RCA jacks for the input signal from the turntable. Finally, two RCA jacks deliver an output signal to your line-level preamp. There is, however, a requirement that both coil connections float with respect to ground. Turntable grounds and cable shields need to go to a separate ground wire. There must be no direct connection from either coil side to chassis ground.
Load Settings
There are no loading adjustments in the little LOCO. Your cartridge will see a load of zero Ohms. The input signal will be the current your cartridge produces into that virtual short. No need to worry about or fuss around with loading
Gain Settings
Your little LOCO is factory–set to medium gain. That should work very well in most situations. The usual concerns about cartridge output voltage do not apply here. Cartridges of varied output voltage specs tend to supply about the same level of drive current to a short. I.e. higher output voltages usually have higher resistance while lower output voltages usually have lower resistance. Into a virtual short, most deliver about the same current signal. If your particular situation would benefit from a gain adjustment, you can change it. Inside, on the red circuit boards, you will see a place for gain setting resistors. The little LOCO ships with 3k resistors installed for medium gain. You can boost the output voltage 6dB by removing those resistors. Or, you can reduce the output voltage 6dB by replacing the 3k resistors with 1k counterparts.
Operating Voltage Requirements:
- 105 — 125 VAC, 12 watts
- 210 — 250 VAC units are available on special order
Note: operating voltage is NOT universal and cannot be field modified.
Product Manual | Download |
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Warranty | 5 years parts and labor. Transferable. Only valid for units that have not been modified or abused. |