"We make no apology here as we whole heartedly agree with Graham so here are some words from the man himself.

"Unfortunately the industry has been pushing the concept that one circuit can be optimised to do the two jobs of moving magnet and moving coil pre-amplification at the flick of a switch. If science were that easy then Michael Shumacker could win - at the flick of a switch - in the car he drives to the track in!

"At the same time you are told that hi-fi separates are the only way to go for the performance you're after. Isn't it time for the hi-fi salesman to make his mind up?

"The truth is that one amplifier stage can only be optimised for one narrow range of gains. Hence the negative feedback argument used to explain why one amplifier sounds better than another. With 20dB difference between low output moving coil and high output moving magnet, it is immediately apparent that the universal phono stage is going to let you down on one of its settings. That's usually the moving magnet one, so why bother spending over the odds for something that's going to end in disappointment?

"That is why the Fanfare is dedicated to low output moving coil and stages such as our similar looking Gram Amp 2 Special Edition are dedicated to the higher output moving magnets and high output moving coils. When you look at the prices of these two units, it is obviously cost effective to opt for one or the other, or even to buy both if you're going to be using both high and low output cartridges. You may end up paying a tiny bit more for a great deal more in musical performance."

Technical Specification