Rothwell Audio Signature Two Moving Coil Phono Preamplifier

The Signature Two is an audiophile moving coil phonostage employing low-noise discrete transistor circuitry throughout - no op-amps or transformers - and offers variable gain and cartridge load impedance. The Signature Two's circuit is the culmination of over 25 years experience in the design and production of audiophile phonostages and is a four-stage design using discrete transistors operating in Class A. The first stage is a low-noise design with adjustable load impedance from 32 ohms to 1100 ohms and gain variable from 52dB to 72dB, load and gain being adjustable independently of each other. This allows a very wide range of low output moving coil cartridges to be handled with optimum performance.

Rothwell Audio Signature One Moving Coil Phono Preamplifier

The Signature One is a phono pre-amp dedicated to low output moving coil cartridges and uses transformer coupling to achieve the best possible performance. The very low signal levels produced by low output moving coil cartridges (usually less than a tenth of those produced by moving magnet cartridges) require careful handling to achieve a noise performance approaching the best theoretically possible. Transistors cannot get as close as transformer coupling can, and op-amps are even less so. Despite decades of research and development in transistor technology transformers still offer the best noise performance. This is an uncomfortable fact when the best possible performance is demanded because transformers are vastly more expensive than transistors, but it is a fact non the less.