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The Michell Delhini Phonostage |
by Werner Ogiers |
| Back in November 1998, on the day I wanted to suggest to John Michell to make
a cheaper skeletal version of the GyroDec turntable, on the day John Michell
silenced me by showing prototype parts of what was to be the Gyro SE (that being
a cheaper skeletal version of the GyroDec), well, on that day I was also demoed
a prototype of a new phonostage which was to replace the reputed Iso HR.I've been waiting ever since to get my hands on what later was named the
Delphini phonostage. Or rather, the Delphini range of phonostages. Tested
here is the original thing: a two-box phonopreamp with the actual electronics in
one small acrylic-fronted and stainless-steel-roofed box, and a big regulated
power supply in a similar package (incidentally, this is the same power supply
unit as delivered with the £1600 Orca linestage). This two-box affair costs
£1000 or thereabouts (I may be mistaken for 10 or 20%). A cheaper Delphini,
comprising the very same electronics but with a much smaller outboard PSU, costs
a mere £495, and can at any time be upgraded to the full-spec version at the
outlay of similar money. And coming soon is a super-duper dual-mono Delphini,
having two of the big PSUs and delivering something Michell calls - tongue in
cheak - "my new surround sound thingy". In addition to this range, owners of the
older Iso and Iso HR can buy the big Orca/Delphini power supply unit separately,
which indeed constitutes a very serious upgrade for these older phonostages, at
a cost of £500.
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| Back to the electronics, the actual phonostage. Delphini's gain can be
switched (with internal jumpers) between 4 modes, the lower gain setting
compatible with MM or high-output MC cartridges not delivering more than 3mV @
5cm/s. The other settings are all for low-output MCs. Input impedance can be set
too, offering 33, 100, 330, 1000 and 47000 Ohms. One set of inputs, one set of
outputs, both using nice big Teflon-isolated connectors. That's it. Oh, the
internals? IC-based (funny, up till now I always thought the Delphini was a
hybrid affair, with one IC and a lot of transistors per channel…), class-A'ed,
half-active half-passive RIAA equalisation with 0.1% metal film resistors and
selected polystyrene and polypropylene capacitors, DC-servoed, and with
opamp-based ultra-wideband voltage regulators: the (expensive) IC I use as the
actual gain stage in my own phono-pre, designer Graham Fowler coolly employs
here as a voltage regulator… That's all I know. The double-sided PCB looks very
neat (saying this as a fully grown-up engineer working in the aerospace and chip
business), and is crowded with rather expensive components, a number of them
SMD-mounted. |
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| It was a long wait from November till now, the reason being that the Delphini
was being developed in the UK, with critical listening tests being carried out
by distributor Philip Matthews in Belgium (this being a curious Anglo-Belgian
with an aversion of the clinical sound of most of contemporary 'high-end' gear,
playing himself with a system comprising the very first Orbe, SME V with gold
wiring, Jan Allaerts MC-1 Sapphire, Orca, four Quad IIs, huge MB Quart speakers,
or alternatively, Quad ESLs in several guises and configurations, and indeed
no CD-player.) After seven design iterations Philip deemed the Delphini
worthy, and production could start. And even then it took a few months before he
could let me have his shop Delphini for, like, 24 hours. Better than nothing, as
this still allows me to get a world scoop with this article since as far as I
know no UK magazine so far has tested this phono preamp. But please do keep in
mind that this is not a formal review: while I am not employed by Michell
engineering, I very much am their webmaster and the designer of their website,
so I can hardly be labelled completely objective. On the other hand, I am just a
human being (…) wanting to get a fine sound from my LPs. So, consider this the
report of someone pretty much involved in things Michell, but also someone who
has waited a looong time for hearing this phonostage. (And no, I am certainly
not paid for writing this. For the matter: my turntable was bought second hand
in Belgium years ago; my preamp was bought used in Oxford; and the non-original
parts of the turntable are rejected left-overs (and so they look!) from
Michell's production. You won't see a glimming Orbe, an Orca, or a brace of
Alectos in our house, simply because I can not afford them.) |
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| I had to compare Delphini to my own phonostage, which, incidentally, I may
describe here in mode detail before long. Suffice to say now that it is also
IC-based, architecturally more or less resembling a super-version of the LFD
MM0, with one single AD-797 per channel, biased into class A, with fully-active
RIAA employing polystyrene capacitors, and finally with an AD-711 for a
2.5th order DC-servo, all assembled on a custom-designed breadboard
with all components in headers for easy replacement and experiments, so say
byebye to short signal paths. Oh, and all fed by a pathetic 10VA EI-frame
transformer. And a host of big capacitors in a CRC array. |
| Despite a low gain of 50dB, this preamp sounds pretty good already, its major
drawback being a certain lack of colour (which I, depending on the weather, tend
to attribute to the tonearm, but read on …), and a coolness. Bass, while lean,
goes very deep and is extremely tight. The soundstage is very wide, reaching
beyond the speakers when the source calls for that trick, and quite deep. |
| The rest of the system? First a curious turntable which is an old, but
QC-driven, Michell GyroDec below the, er, waist, and which is from the
subchassis up a Michell Orbe, with a silver-wired Rega RB-300 arm, and a 0.5mV
Ortofon MC-25FL cartridge. After the phonostage follow the Michell Argo/Hera
line preamp, Quad 306 power amp, and old ESLs on Target stands. No comment on
wiring, though. |
| Records played comprised of Clannad, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Iggy Pop,
Blondie, The Nits, and numerous others. Funny: most of these things were bought
second hand, sometimes visibly in bad condition. |
| What immediately draws the attention is the Delphini's warmth: the soundscape
is wide and deep, totally open, in a very inviting and warm way. On this stage,
individual sounds take on a slightly soft-focus (as in real life, as opposed to
hi-fi!), full-bodied, yet feathery and airy character. Treble is sweet sweet
sweet, but without being dull. No, treble, and indeed almost the whole frequency
range, is delightfully detailed: at one instant a single piano note at the end
of a song kept fading down into blackness. Bass is full and blowsy, in a manner
which makes sense, but all the same it does lack the tightness and insight of my
own phonostage. On the other hand, Delphini bass breathes a great deal more, so
which one is more correct? Mine, I initially thought. Until later that same
evening, after I had lost myself completely in listening to The Nits' Urk live
recording (triple LP CBS465843-1, double CD CBS 465843-2): gimme Delph bass
anytime of the day (and night) now ... |
| While we are at it: that Nits recording is something you must have. 29 songs,
each a universe on its own, waiting to be explored by the listener. Each
accessible for people of almost any musical persuasion: these are arty pop
songs, perhaps even rock songs. But what with the overtly classical idiom of the
piano? The folk-lore that permeates all songs? The oh-so complex and varied
percussion and drums? The experimental keyboards, played by a real virtuoso, the
effects sometime flying literally around your head. And tension. Tension in the
music, e.g. the song Sketches of Spain, describing the civil war there. And
tension in the audience, because it known something is happening. (I know what:
I was lucky enough to see them once when they were at their height.) But I am
deviating ... |
| Absolutely wonderful is the coherence over the whole spectrum, bass nor mid
nor highs drawing any undue attention. Dynamics are fine too, with e.g. a
commendable control over finely shimmering cymbals while the rest of the music
goes full throttle. In one instant I heard a single piano note fade away for
over 10 seconds. My own phonostage does that job in less than five seconds. How
would CD fare? Brass was rendered with absolute control, in a, er, brassy way.
Rhythmic? Should have seen me waltzing through the living room. |
| Width is the same as my reference, and depth is better. I'd say that the
Delphini recognisably places music sources twice as deep as my own kit, while at
the front, e.g. with vocals, both phonostages place sounds slightly in front of
the speakers. Something very funny is that, when no music is playing, the
Delphini obviously has a higher background noise than my own preamp (but then,
it also had at least 12dB more gain). But when the music played this noise
simply did not seem to be there anymore, not even in silent passegs. And groove
noise and roar are presented in a plane entirely separate from the music.
Sensitivity to ticks and pops is very low. Throw any piece of old or new vinyl
at the Delphini, and it turns it into an interesting experience. |
| All in all this preamp's sound is very musical and involving, addictive, and
again a total embarrassment to that technology we know as 'CD'. Instruments and
voices have colour and body, and the overall sound is almost neutral, bar a very
slight darkening of tone (think the sonic equivalent of a gorgeous sunset at
Capetown, or so), touched-up with a hint of polish all over the spectrum, like
having a dark-golden hue cast over the sonics. The Iso did something similar,
but also whitened the treble a bit, added some emphasis there. This is something
Delphini decidedly does not. What it is is a slight departure from
total neutrality, but it is a very euphonic departure, and please do not forget
that I was playing with a $300 cartridge. So which component actually was to
blame here? |
| But listen: I am not in a position to evaluate the Delphini. One reason I
quoted already at the beginning of this article. The other reason is that I have
the feeling that my Ortofon cartridge is way too low for this full-blown
Delphini. Who in his right mind combines a £1700 turntable with a £150 tonearm
and a £200 cartridge with £1000+ worth of phonostage??? No, until I get the
chance to play with e.g. a big Jan Allaerts moving coil or a Jubilee I'll have
to defer my final judgement on this phonostage. And until someone like Thorsten
Loesch tests the Delphini, for TNT or for this website, you will have to
wait for anything approaching an objective test report. I do, however, have the
feeling that the basic Delphini easily can take on the usual suspects in its
price class (with the cheaper power supply I suspect that it will sound a bit
mode muddled and less clean; at least that's what I remember from the early
prototype), that the Delphini as tested here, with its rich and generous
character, will be the bane of the few other real high-end phonostages that are
available in Europe, and that the forthcoming dual-mono version will be
something very special. |
| And if you think this is a bit over the top then that's your problem.
My problem is that now I almost desperately want one. Which is a real
problem of some sorts. Because tomorrow the Delphini has to go right back to the
distributor. And tomorrow I'll have to get back to the real world, with its
nagging necessities like saving money because the car needs to be replaced,
because we'll need to buy a bigger house, because the ever-rising cost of used
Quad ESL-63s. ... Sigh. |
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