Phono Stages

Phono Stage
My phono stage is a Kondo GE-1. I bought this secondhand and re-tubed it with new Electro Harmonix 6072A tubes and a Philips/JAN 6X4 rectifier, which are what it is specified with from the factory. According to Kondo: “Designed to be the companion Phono amplifier of Integrated amplifier Overture and Pre-amplifier G-70, GE-1 gives the best out of analog playback with high definition and rich musical characters.
The newly developed phono amplifier circuitry is fuelled by a gigantic power supply section. This special design draws the charms out of all recordings no matter matching with vacuum tube or solid state amplifier.
With intimate and crystal clear sound, GE-1 will definitely fill your audio enjoyment with ultimate pleasures.”

It’s a moving magnet phono stage only, and necessitates the use of a step up transformer to work with low output moving coil cartridges. It does have switchable load resistance set via a switch on the back, apparently it “works as a low-cut filter together with the output stage coupling capacitor. This design gives natural and gentle characteristics to the filter. No loss of sound quality while reducing rumble ingredients.” It is impeccably built as you would expect from these Japanese artisans.

The DS Audio E3 equaliser is now a permanent part of my system, partnered with the E3 optical cartridge. Because optical cartridges don’t generate a conventional signal and need external power for the LEDs, this box is essential, it provides both the power supply and the correct equalisation curve. It also offers two output settings that slightly adjust the bass roll-off, which is handy for tuning the balance with different rooms or speakers.

What makes the E3 really interesting is that it’s the entry point into a whole family of DS Audio equalisers. Above it sit the DS-002, ES-001, and flagship models that use upgraded power supplies, more elaborate discrete circuits, and improved separation between channels. The clever bit is that the upgrade path is modular: any of the higher-level equalisers can be used with the E3 cartridge. So I can step up the electronics in the future and extract more performance without changing the cartridge straight away.

For now, the E3 EQ feels like a properly engineered gateway into optical replay, clean, quiet, and already showing off what this technology can do.