Fanfare: for the common man?

Phono Stage/Preamp: Gram Amp 3 Fanfare

An RIAA phono stage preamp dedicated to moving coil cartridge pre-amplification.

The Gram Amp 3 Fanfare phono stage preamp is a dedicated (fixed gain) conventional output moving coil cartridge phono stage preamp designed for moving coil phono cartridges having outputs in the range 0.3 to 1.2 mV (300 to 1,200 µV). Corresponding output being 240 - 954mV (1kHz reference).

The Gram Amp 3 Fanfare is a better choice than a budget universal phono stage and its performance is far better than its mid-market price may suggest...

"The Fanfare kept everything nice and tidy, allowing the listener to plunge into the heart of the music, while still being able to distinguish individual elements: a subtle bass riff, the stroke of a brush on a snare drum, the intake of a singer's breath... extracting both the music and emotion with utter conviction. The midrange textures were almost tangible, the treble sweet and airy, the bass deep and authoritative."

[Deon Schoeman, Phono Pre-Amplifiers: Graham Slee Projects Gram Amp 3 Fanfare, Audio Video, November 2009]

It uses our latest ultra-linear techniques which make the music more fluidly clear you won't believe it's solid state...

"...the Slee had settled down and was giving me clarity, dynamics, soundstage, etc. I loved the sound of it... As I listened I realised that the Fanfare had totally separated the instruments out and spread them over this huge sound stage. The instruments were no longer rubbing up against each other, creating a thick or an artificially full sound. It had been more obvious that it was doing this on reggae as the blurred reggae bass on a bad amp adds a fullness to every other instrument. The Fanfare got the reggae bass straightaway. It now seems to be sorting out bucket loads of other stuff as well."

[gbdb user review, Gram Amp 3 Fanfare, Owners Forum, November 2009]

The Gram Amp 3 Fanfare phono stage preamp represents a "minima" in cost for its real "maxima" in moving coil performance. It's quite amazing considering its mid-market price tag.

"Green" As Standard

For the 2009/2010 season (by December 2009), the Gram Amp 3 Fanfare phono stage preamp is supplied with a universal-voltage energy-efficient mains plug mounted power supply. It can also be powered by our PSU1 power supply which can be ordered separately.

Specifications

Input sensitivity range: 0.3mV to 1.2mV

Output for input sensitivity range: 240mV - 954mV

Maximum input level: 6.16mV (ref 1 kHz)

Gain (ref 1kHz): 58dB

Input impedance resistive: 100 Ohms

Output noise: (CCIR Q-Pk 22Hz-22 kHz) -67dB

Equivalent Input Noise (EIN) -125dB

Reproduction characteristic: RIAA within 0.5dB total deviation 20Hz-20kHz

Total Harmonic Distortion plus noise measured at 80Hz, 1kHz, 5.6 kHz and 16 kHz: less than 0.05% (typically <0.015% at 1 kHz)

Channel balance: 0.1dB

Channel separation: 64dB

Price

£212.75. Prices in GBP (pounds sterling) ex VAT/GST