Music Space Time Musician-P1.2MK Tube Preamplifier

Audiophiles who use amplifiers and preamplifiers have a common sense that it’s hard to search a good preamlifier. If said more precisely, it is very hard to find a so good and so cheap preamplifier for himself. Five years ago, the Jiaxing Music Space Time Tube Amplifier Manufacturing Company made a Musician-P1MK preamplifier which was welcome by many audiophiles who use medium and low price amplifiers and amplifiers. That preamplifier had a fine outside and beautiful tonecolour so if accompanying a powerful amplifier, it would get more charming music infectivity. Recently they have modified the product, to give the Musician-P1.2MK preamplifier. The modification is to raise the dynamic for music, so as details, vivid, and power. Especially the depth of the sound stage is impressive. When playing some big occasion music, it would get the momentum easily.
The P1.2MK is a modification of the P1MK, so the basic circuit frame is not changed. But the overall circuit is optimized and the components are much more classified. As we know, the price of a good preamplifier couldn’t be much lower than a good amplifier. Though the quantity of components and size of a preamplifier is much less than a amplifier, the quantity of technology may be higher than the amplifier’s. Using limited costs to make a good preamplifier must cost more time and brain. On the price line of RMB5,000 the P1.2MK has a fine presentation. It’s a bestbuy product.
The most important thing of the preamplifier is the signal-to-noise ratio. This is a very important factor to influence the signal. They think about the screening way. The structure of the P1.2MK adopts multi steel plates to eliminate the affective. Filter is adopted at the back of ac power connection. Every part like transformer, choking coil, and circuit boards is screend by bend baking finished steel plates. Two circuit boards are settled on spring bumper. The PBC adoptes double 70μm thick copper coil plated gold. AC power and amplifying are isolated to reduce the influence. The P1.2MK also has AC power phase selector. If the power phase is correct, the indicator on the back board will light. It’s a very helpful and useful design. High voltage power is supplied by high speed tube regulator citcuit. Lower voltage power is supplied by three-terminal IC regulator circuit. Crates use thicker plates and special feet to give a substance codition of work. Volume switch uses Nobel product. Electrolytic capacitor uses Nichicon, Jamicon, and KMG. Power transformers adopt double C model screening craft.
To adapt modern high level source, this preamplifier is designed to be a low gain high level preamplifier. It adopts class 1 three pole connection pentodee amplifying. Add negative output whose impedance is less to about 500Ω. This can raise abilitis of loading amplifiers. The influence of electromagnetic field would be less. Interstage adopts direct coincidence to get fine phase characteristic and transition characteristic. It adapts parallel loop circuit negative feedback to get fine dynamic and low distortion. It’s a decisive of promoting ability. Pentode tube using three pole connection is like emboldening negative feedback to get fine presentation of doubled harmonic waves.
It’s very easy to test a preamplifier. We just need to connect to a high quality amplifier. When high quality preamplifier accompanys high amplifier, the sound quality would be overall raised immediately. In common conditions, the sound stage would be spreaded, dynamic would be wild, details and momentum would be added, power would be strong. On the other side, if it’s a bad one, the sound would be dry and hard and no beauty to say. Some preamplifiers could get strong power, but the tone colour lack a kind of beauty. It’s hard to say a good one. So an ideal preamplifier is difficult to search. When we used the P1.2MK, we were surprised to find the tone colour becoming more beautiful. The ex-preamplifier of Musician-P1MK added CODA amplifier could get a tube like tone colour. Now the P1.2MK added CODA amplifier to give more density and wilder dynamic to music.
This time we used TIANJIN M211 mono amplifiers to test it. This amplifiers are the new flag ship class product of TIANJIN. The craft and the sound quality could be called first class. The exceeding presentation of M211 is the richful tube like air and the immersed sense of reality. In our test room of the magzine, it’s the refrence amplifier. In some factors, it has exceeded the Mark Levinson No.383. One big characteristic of the M211 is that it has volume switch. The output power is also powerful enough. So in some conditions, even if have no preamplifier, it still could drive the speakers. And the sound is good either. So using the amplifiers, we could easily to test the P1.2MK.
P1.2MK and M211 gave the fine depth of the sound stage. The positions were clear. Lines and density were vivid. Playing symphony, the back line instruments were pushed to back obviously. The stereo sense of music was strengthened. At the mean time, the layers of music was better. Fine density bringed the positions more fresh and vivid. Playing the Song of Songs Ⅱ, the performance of China opera was bright and rich of sharpness. The sound frames were clear and the tone colour was smooth. Playing string music, the lines were bright and sharp. Big horn was also wild. If we compare it to the top preamplifier, P1.2MK lack a little sense of space and the arrogance of medium and low frequency. But it was still satisfied to us. Because it had some high preamplifier’s characteristics of activity, solid, and analysis. Its space of three dimension was vivid and the sound shape was steady. So its control ability was fine.
The P1.2MK is a good preamplifier. It changed the gentle charateristic of the P1MK. The sound stage size is bigger. Though its sound is more like a transistor preamplifier, you’ll finally find it’s a pure tube one. Its sound could be called natural and light. The sound focus on transparency and high analysis. So it should accompany some massy sound amplifier. As a price of RMB5000 preamplifier, P1.2MK is worth to use.

Digested from《High Fidelity》2010.10 Writer：Shitu