Sutherland PHD

I heard it at an NJ Audio Society meeting and it sounded quite good... We compared it directly to a Manley Steelhead with Harry Weisfeld's new top-of-the-line TNT TT and Vandersteen 4 speakers.

It was better focused than the Manley, transients were sharp and quick and the bass was tight and deep. Although it's soundstage was not as expansive as the Steelhead, many members preferred its honest presentation.

The one drawback we found, was that if one of the many "D" cells dies (16 total, if I recall correctly) the unit will not play, because they are in series. And of course this happened at the meeting and sent the gracious host scrambling to find more D batteries.

Running a preamp on battery power is no big deal, and has been done for years...the circuits draw little power. The idea of using a signal-sensing automatic turn on also is not new...just about every subwoofer plate amplifier has this feature. Putting these two features together in a preamp is a good idea. It's a clever piece of equipment, and must be fun to own.

All that being said, how does it sound? Good enough to justify the price?

Surprised Twl hasn't stepped in here. He runs his entire system on batteries, although I think they're a little more sophisticated than D cells. I'm sure this gets him cleaner signals and a lower noise floor.

We just put a new 12V halogen light fixture in the room next to our system. Despite the dedicated audio AC circuit and a $2K power conditioner, the hash is still getting through. Anybody got a battery big enough for a 240wpc SS amp?

Except for the need for periodic replacement (which really isn't very often-- the lifespan of those D cells is probably better than most power tubes!!!!), batteries are superior to AC power any day in every way. The currents that are required in a preamp are in the range of a few milliamps, which a battery of this size will just laugh at. They are capable of delivering orders of magnitude more than this.