This is a review and detailed measurements of the Graham Slee Reflex C phono preamplifier. It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $1,240 (695 pounds in UK). This is the first moving-coil-only phono stage I have tested. Usually they are either moving magnet only or both.
The case is a DIY type affair albeit, with rather attractive coloring and graphics:
Back panel brings no surprise:
What is surprising -- and I forgot to take its picture -- is the mass external power supply. It is larger than Reflex C itself and has an odd shape rather than the usual rectangle. It is also DC rather than AC. Not sure why they did not opt for a transformer and use AC input and put the DC conversion inside.
The moving-coil only feature set put a twist in my work as I have not captured competitive data on this input. So the following measurements are provided as they stand.
Graham Slee Reflex C Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:
Mains noise is quite high as is the third harmonic at 180 Hz which is usually the spikes post DC conversion. That sharply reduces SINAD but audibility is not very high due to their low frequency. Input voltage is 0.5 millivolt by the way as I always use for MC input (and within the specs of the unit).
Excluding the noise gives us a much better SINAD:
Likely far better than the LP itself can manage.
Frequency response/RIAA equalization is most important here so let's run that:
The high-pass rumble filter is causing a bit of peaking to the tune of 0.5 dB. Otherwise the response is very good.
Sweeping the frequency gives us the following graphs relative to a few sample frequencies:
Good to see clipping occurs at the same level for all frequencies. But let's once again take out the noise and see the true distortion:
That's quite high in low frequencies, rising to almost half a percent.
Finally, here is a test of headroom:
Saturation occurs quite early which means pops and ticks on the LP are likely amplified and made more annoying.
Conclusions
Not having our usual references, it is hard for me to grade this unit (hence the lack of panther next to it). The case is certainly too cheap and generic for something of this cost magnitude. Overload is quite low as well. It is not something that I personally would recommend to buy but you have your data to decide otherwise.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The case is a DIY type affair albeit, with rather attractive coloring and graphics:
Back panel brings no surprise:
What is surprising -- and I forgot to take its picture -- is the mass external power supply. It is larger than Reflex C itself and has an odd shape rather than the usual rectangle. It is also DC rather than AC. Not sure why they did not opt for a transformer and use AC input and put the DC conversion inside.
The moving-coil only feature set put a twist in my work as I have not captured competitive data on this input. So the following measurements are provided as they stand.
Graham Slee Reflex C Measurements
As usual we start with our dashboard:
Mains noise is quite high as is the third harmonic at 180 Hz which is usually the spikes post DC conversion. That sharply reduces SINAD but audibility is not very high due to their low frequency. Input voltage is 0.5 millivolt by the way as I always use for MC input (and within the specs of the unit).
Excluding the noise gives us a much better SINAD:
Likely far better than the LP itself can manage.
Frequency response/RIAA equalization is most important here so let's run that:
The high-pass rumble filter is causing a bit of peaking to the tune of 0.5 dB. Otherwise the response is very good.
Sweeping the frequency gives us the following graphs relative to a few sample frequencies:
Good to see clipping occurs at the same level for all frequencies. But let's once again take out the noise and see the true distortion:
That's quite high in low frequencies, rising to almost half a percent.
Finally, here is a test of headroom:
Saturation occurs quite early which means pops and ticks on the LP are likely amplified and made more annoying.
Conclusions
Not having our usual references, it is hard for me to grade this unit (hence the lack of panther next to it). The case is certainly too cheap and generic for something of this cost magnitude. Overload is quite low as well. It is not something that I personally would recommend to buy but you have your data to decide otherwise.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
