Sutherland PhonoBlock User manual

PHONOBLOCKS
-a phono preamplifi cation
instrument
by Sutherland Engineering
OWNER’S MANUAL

A note from designer RON SUTHERLAND:
The PhonoBlock story
INTRODUCTION:
The PhonoBlock is the phono preamp I designed for my home system. Its design was a self
indulgence. I built it to please me. There was no consideration to accommodate any market
influences. That mind-set gave me the absolute freedom to build an uncompromised and, in
my opinion, the best phono preamp.
- Ron

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Another path to the same destination.
Almost always, upscale designs are laden with features. More features are touted to represent ad-
vancement, product differentiation AND a rational for the upscale price. The PhonoBlocks don’t play
that game. Their elevated performance is achieved by NOT cluttering the signal path with deleterious
features. Complexity is not the path to purity. Elegant refi nement is.
PHONOBLOCKS
SEPARATION...complete

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
POWER SUPPLIES
POWER SUPPLY:
Much of the PhonoBlock’s effortless musicality can be attributed to power supply capability. The power
supply is not ‘sized’ for the gain stage’s load. On the contrary, gain stage power requirements place
an insignificant load on the power supply’s capacity. The power available to the amplifier section is a
bedrock solid foundation. Precisely defined by fixed current regulators, shunt voltage regulators right
at the load and over 100,000 microfarads (per mono chassis) for energy storage. It takes nearly 20
seconds for this huge reservoir to fill up when AC power is applied.
For a design guided by simplicity, the PhonoBlock’s power supply may, at first, appear plenty compli-
cated. Admittedly, it is both simple AND complex. It is a long chain of individually simple elements.
Each element has a function of either filtering or regulation (also doing a filtering function). Each ele-
ment inserts a level of isolation. The accumulated isolation is unprecedented.
The chain looks like this:
• AC power entry connector
• AC fuses
• First torroidal transformer
• Dual pi ferrite bead / film capacitor filter
• Second torroidal transformer
From here, there are two parallel power paths. One for the first
gain stage and another one for the final gain stage. EACH of
the two separate paths has these elements.
• Slow recovery, discrete diode, full-wave bridge rectifier
• Initial filter capacitors
• Constant current regulator
• First RC pi filter
• Second RC pi filter
• Shielded ribbon cable between shielded compartments
• Cross over from the right compartment to the left compartment

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
• Third RC pi filter
• Forth RC pi filter
• Fifth RC pi filter
• Constant voltage shunt regulator
• Electrolytic and film capacitor bypass at the active devices
You can clearly see that each element adds ‘distance’ from the incoming AC power source. This is
also apparent when you look at the physical layout of components. Each element adds a physical
distance from the AC power connector. All listed items before the ribbon cable are in the right shielded
enclosure. They are in linear order from back to front. The ribbon cable goes from right to left, taking
power to the front of the audio board. Power filtering elements then go in linear order from front to back
on the audio board. Finally, you will see the electrolytic and film capacitors very closely clustered right
at the chips they are powering.
Simple, logical, straightforward, reliable AND effective.
CASE / CONSTRUCTION:
Once a circuit topology is optimized for sound quality, it
is critical that the surrounding physical environment
is supportive of that achievement.
Like so many other aspects of the PhonoB-
lock design, the case is unassuming, classic
--------- but with a unique, purposeful twist.
There are two shielded enclosures behind
the machined front panel. The right side con-
tains the AC power supply and left side contains
the analog audio circuitry. We get the performance
advantages of shielded isolation and the tidiness of unification.
And yet there is another concealed advantage. Usually the cable interconnecting audio
and power supply sections is hanging out in space, exposed to radiated interference and other environ-
mental uncertainties. The PhonoBlock interconnection is hidden away, protected and totally shielded.
You don’t even see that cable. It is securely tucked into a machined channel in the aluminum front
panel.
There are other details making the PhonoBlocks special.

Some are small. For instance, if the front panel logo were simply silk-screened ink, sitting on the sur-
face of the panel it would, over the years, rub off. It is actually a black dye anodized INTO the alumi-
num. You can see and even feel the difference.
Some are big. The base of the PhonoBlock is laser machined 12 gage cold rolled steel. That’s about
1/8” thick. That substantial platform is protected with baked on epoxy power coat.
Feet are custom machined from Delrin with rubberized cork inserts.
The theme of robust construction is also evident in the circuit boards. Fiberglass FR-4 is a well estab-
lished, top quality choice for circuit board material. However, what you will see in the PhonoBlock is
over the top. At 1/8” thickness, PhonoBlock circuit boards are twice as thick as normally seen. Indi-
vidual parts are anchored from any mechanical movement.
PRINTED CIRCUIT DIELECTRIC:
Anytime two conductors are at a different voltage
potential, there is an electric field generated be-
tween them. The dielectric (the insulation between
conductors) within that field become involved in
charge storage. If not carefully considered, that
extra charge storage can time smear details of
a musical signal. Circuit board material is a
dielectric. With normal double-sided construc-
tion, there are copper conductors on each side
of the board. Unintentionally, a new capacitor is
introduced into the circuit, formed by top surface
copper, bottom surface copper and the circuit board
dielectric sandwiched between the two. It is NOT the quality of capacitor we want to have
in a high-end signal path. Some manufactures make the situation even worse by going to multi-layer
boards in the analog audio sections. Instead of two layers of copper, there are four or more layers of
copper. Even worse than that, the dielectric between layers is much thinner and the undesired capaci-
tive effect is inversely proportional to thickness. At best, some manufactures make small, incremental
improvements by using exotic board material.
The PhonoBlocks addresses the issue of circuit board dielectric in a novel – yet elegantly simple way.
All signal carrying conductors are on the top plane of the circuit board. There are no copper conduc-
tors on the bottom plane, opposite signal carrying regions. Thus there are no electric fields generated
between top and bottom layers. The circuit board dielectric is not exposed to electric fields and there is
no undesired storage in circuit board material. The circuit board dielectric is not improved ---------- it is
removed. It is as if a window were behind you, instead of in front of you. It is still there, but not in the
way of clarity.

WHITE NOISE GENERATOR:
It can take quite a long listening time before a high resolution component reaches its performance po-
tential. The PhonoBlocks are no exception.
However, the PhonoBlocks distinguish themselves by including white noise generators --- one for each
channel. White noise becomes the input signal and passes thru all stages of the PhonoBlock. You can
even use the output of the PhonoBlock as a burn-in signal source for interconnect cables and the rest
of your system.
The inclusion of such a feature into the signal path may seem to contradict the previously stated (em-
phatically stated) value of an uncluttered signal path.
The challenge is to add this useful feature without ANY compromise to the signal path. Remember,
there are loading resistor circuit boards that plug into the PhonoBlock. The white noise generator cir-
cuit board plugs into exactly that same connector – instead of the loading resistor board. That same
connector is used to either add resistive loading OR as a place to inject white noise. When you are
finished with the White Noise Generator, just unplug it and replace it with your choice of resistive load-
ing. There is no added complexity on the main PhonoBlock board.
GROUNDING OPTIONS:
Sometimes ground loops can cause hum in a phono system. Breaking ground loops can be easy or it
can be a nightmarish frustration. In the difficult situations, grounding options can save the day.
For product safety and electrostatic shielding purposes, the metal casework of the PhonoBlock is elec-
trically connected to the ground lead in the IEC power cord.
There are, however, options on the audio circuit’s ground reference. Each mono chassis has three
grounding options. They are selectable by moving a gold-plated shunt.
• Audio ground can float with respect to the chassis
• Audio ground can tie directly to the chassis
• Audio ground ‘softly’ connected to the chassis thru a 50 Ohm resistor
GAIN/LOADING OPTIONS:
One gain/load configuration will be optimum for a given system. There must be a mechanism for find-
ing and installing that best choice.
The common way puts every conceivable option on the circuit board. Then only one of the available
options is selected using some sort of switch. That approach is conventional, convenient and it works.
Some products even have remote control to select configuration. On the down side, the circuit board

layout is compromised with the clutter of fitting in all option components. Signal path must wander thru
the selector switch and the pile of unused option components. Sometimes the selector switch is of high
quality. More often it is a cheap DIP rocker switch – the sort for setting digital signals. Not at all ap-
propriate for passing the minute analog voltages from a phono cartridge.
To keep the signal path tight and uncluttered, the PhonoBlock uses plug in configuration boards. Gold
plated sockets for the configuration boards are located on the main circuit board very close to the as-
sociated circuitry. Signal path length is kept short and direct. Only the one, optimum value component
is applied to the signal path. The PhonoBlock comes with 4 gain options and 7 cartridge loading values.
In addition, blank plug-in boards are included for fine tuning with custom values. You are not limited to
standard values. Options are unlimited – but only one is in the circuit.

PHONOBLOCK specifications
Cartridge Loading
50 Ohms
100 Ohms
200 Ohms
475 Ohms
1k Ohms
10k Ohms
47k Ohms
blank card, can be configured for 1 to 47k Ohms plus capacitance
Gain settings
45 dB
50 dB
55 dB
60 dB
blank card, can be configured for 40 to 70 dB
SIZE:
17” wide
17” deep
3.25” high
SHIPPING BOX:
24” wide
24” deep
11” high
WEIGHT:
Net 21 lbs each
Shipping 26 lbs each
POWER REQUIREMENTS:
110 – 120 VAC, 10 watts, each
or
220 – 240 VAC, 10 watts, each
PHONOBLOCKS
www.sutherlandengineering.com