This is a review and detailed measurements of the Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator phono stage. It costs US $299.
The company gets the fonts right which look kind of classy. Otherwise, the case is ultra light which causes the unit to fall back under the weight of the cables. The edges of the front panel are also rather sharp. Back side shows this is as bare bones as a phono stage gets:
Naturally the unit is for Moving Magnet (MM) cartridges only.
Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:
I was pleased with absence of distortion spikes and mains leakage. Not so impressive was the noise figure which sets SINAD below average:
Most important measurement is RIAA equalization and here, we have 1 dB deviation from 20 to 20 kHz:
While this is spec compliant, it is disappointing to see that it is not more accurate. As it is, highs will be emphasizes a bit.
More disappointing is lack of headroom with the amp clipping at just 56 mv:
And that is at 1 kHz. Increasing the frequency robs you of more headroom:
As a result pops and clicks will be more audible.
Conclusions
Hard to get excited over either the mechanicals of the unit or objective performance. While noting is terribly broken, for $300 I expect much better. Another British company, Cambridge Audio, has far better phono stages so I can't even recommend it even if you want to "buy local."
This is another product which WhatHifi gave 5 star review to:
Brilliant timing in a simple little amplifier like this? What did it do? Instead of 45 RPM, it plays at 50???
So no, there is no reason from performance point of view to recommend Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator. I recommend a new revision and while they are at it, please shorten the darn name!
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The company gets the fonts right which look kind of classy. Otherwise, the case is ultra light which causes the unit to fall back under the weight of the cables. The edges of the front panel are also rather sharp. Back side shows this is as bare bones as a phono stage gets:
Naturally the unit is for Moving Magnet (MM) cartridges only.
Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:
I was pleased with absence of distortion spikes and mains leakage. Not so impressive was the noise figure which sets SINAD below average:
Most important measurement is RIAA equalization and here, we have 1 dB deviation from 20 to 20 kHz:
While this is spec compliant, it is disappointing to see that it is not more accurate. As it is, highs will be emphasizes a bit.
More disappointing is lack of headroom with the amp clipping at just 56 mv:
And that is at 1 kHz. Increasing the frequency robs you of more headroom:
As a result pops and clicks will be more audible.
Conclusions
Hard to get excited over either the mechanicals of the unit or objective performance. While noting is terribly broken, for $300 I expect much better. Another British company, Cambridge Audio, has far better phono stages so I can't even recommend it even if you want to "buy local."
This is another product which WhatHifi gave 5 star review to:
Brilliant timing in a simple little amplifier like this? What did it do? Instead of 45 RPM, it plays at 50???
So no, there is no reason from performance point of view to recommend Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 Communicator. I recommend a new revision and while they are at it, please shorten the darn name!
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/