Product Description
A Stereophile Recommended Component, the Sutherland Engineering Insight 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 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’s harmonious construction – a dual-mono circuit board, built-in isolated power supply, cold-rolled steel chassis, and gold-plated header pins and shunts – marries with five available gain and loading settings for tremendous convenience. Audiophile-grade capacitors and resistors crown a U.S.A.-built jewel that could easily justify a far steeper asking price.
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, the Sutherland Engineering 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.
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 the Sutherland Engineering Insight, 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.
