Analog Corner

Paradox’s remarkable Phono 70 Signature MC phono preamplifier

- By Michael Fremer

One privilege of being a Stereophile columnist is the opportunity to cover products from smaller, less well-known manufacturers, including those that don’t have wide enough distribution to qualify for a full review. One such company is Victorville, California–based Paradox. I’d never heard of them until I received an email from Terence Robinson, the company’s owner. The email included a description of a phono preamplifier that so intrigued me that I asked for a review sample.

The Paradox Phono 70 ($2500) and Phono 70 Signature ($3000) are identical except that the latter uses higher-quality parts. Both are designed exclusively for low-output moving coil cartridges and both offer 70dB of gain—not more or less. The company says the Phono 70 will work with 0.1mV MC cartridges. There’s no gain flexibility because that would mean putting a switch in the signal path, and Paradox says “Switches degrade sound, period.”

A compact, nondescript “damped rigid chassis” with “Phono 70 Signature” engraved into the front fascia in a nondescript typeface houses the Phono 70 Signature’s circuitry. There’s no attempt to hide the bolts holding the front plate to the chassis. It’s all very basic, which is fine with me, especially since you’re not going to be fiddling with it once you’ve settled on loading. It needn’t be kept in view if you don’t like the looks.

The back panel features high-quality, chassis-mounted RCA jacks for input and output and an additional pair for loading. No DIP switches need apply.