I recently picked up a PS Audio Phonolink Phono Preamp from the early 1990s. Currently, it's working great, dead silent. It really must not have been used much, the exterior is a 8/10 and inside it looks like it just came out of the factory 10/10. Hoping someone might have a manual and even better a schematic. Given its age, it's time to recap. If anyone has any info about this unit, it would be greatly appreciated.
I also have one of those and searched high and low for a schematic. None found and I doubt P.S. Audio still has any documents.
Pretty simple circuit with I.C.s feeding a discrete complimentary output biased by a Fet CCS and three diodes. Passive RIAA as was done with P.S. phono stages for years.
Not a bad sounding unit, but bettered by the discrete phono stages in the IV-H, 4.6, 5.0 and 5.5 preamps.
I drew out a schematic for the signal path and power supply, but the circuit for the "touch" buttons is needlessly complex. Kind of a gimmicky feature.
Recapping looks like a PITA considering the board must be removed.
I decided to leave mine alone including the I.C.s.
Pretty simple circuit with I.C.s feeding a discrete complimentary output biased by a Fet CCS and three diodes. Passive RIAA as was done with P.S. phono stages for years.
Not a bad sounding unit, but bettered by the discrete phono stages in the IV-H, 4.6, 5.0 and 5.5 preamps.
I drew out a schematic for the signal path and power supply, but the circuit for the "touch" buttons is needlessly complex. Kind of a gimmicky feature.
Recapping looks like a PITA considering the board must be removed.
I decided to leave mine alone including the I.C.s.
Thanks for the information! So little to be found out there. Gettting the board out because of the touch buttons does look time consuming. I think I’m going to leave well enough alone for now. I’m willing to bet this had very little power on time so the caps may have a tiny bit of life left. They look great, and it’s working beautifully. Maybe a few years down the road.
The only caps in the signal path are at the output. Two Panasonic HF electros bypassed by a Solen PP. The HF are long life and there's no decoupling cap in the feedback loops. Plenty of power supply filtering and those are probably still good.
For an I.C. based unit, it's a good design with high quality I.C.s.
I doubt one could find a phono stage under $1500 now that could better the Phonolink.
It is not the phono section of a 5.0 or 5.5 unfortunately. However, the build quality is better and it lacks the "quirks" of those two.
Your unit looks to be in excellent condition and if you picked it up for a decent price, it's a find. I don't believe they sold too many considering the price of $600 in 1991 (before discontinuation, it went up to $800).
I'm biased towards the earlier discrete P.S. Audio phono sections mainly due to a P.S. IVH being my first real high end preamp many years ago.
Completely recapped and rebuilt P.S. IVH phono section is just a smidgen better performing than the stock Phonolink.
For an I.C. based unit, it's a good design with high quality I.C.s.
I doubt one could find a phono stage under $1500 now that could better the Phonolink.
It is not the phono section of a 5.0 or 5.5 unfortunately. However, the build quality is better and it lacks the "quirks" of those two.
Your unit looks to be in excellent condition and if you picked it up for a decent price, it's a find. I don't believe they sold too many considering the price of $600 in 1991 (before discontinuation, it went up to $800).
I'm biased towards the earlier discrete P.S. Audio phono sections mainly due to a P.S. IVH being my first real high end preamp many years ago.
Completely recapped and rebuilt P.S. IVH phono section is just a smidgen better performing than the stock Phonolink.
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I mostly grabbed it as a backup knowing what you mentioned, at its 1990s price, it would be pretty untouchable for what I paid for it, even if it needed a re-cap. The gain is a bit low on the MM side using with my integrated amp, I need to try a MC cartridge and see if that's any better. I'm sure it would be fine if I was using a preamp that could provide some additional gain. Thanks again for the additional info.