The Aura MC phono stage is the culmination of years of dedicated electronics design and development. Aura is a fully adjustable, three-stage, fully symmetrical phono pre-amplifier designed just to get the best performance out of your MC cartridges and vinyl playback.
Built without compromise from a completely redesigned cabinet, Aura is dedicated specifically to MC cartridges. No superfluous features have been included to avoid compromising the signal path and degrading sound quality. Aura phono incorporates an innovative design. If you are a vinyl enthusiast, Aura MC is the ultimate choice.
The Aura Rega is a fully symmetrical three-stage preamplifier. The first stage is a class A amplifier with complementary symmetry, which uses parallel-connected FET (Field Effect Transistor) transistors in a very low noise linear system, configured as a symmetrical pair input stage. The use of FET transistors makes so that there is no bias current flowing into the cartridge coil so as not to distort the delicate magnetic geometry of the cartridge. The configuration of the input circuit also eliminates the need for coupling components between the FET transistors of the input stage and the output of the cartridge, which would cause sound degradation. Complementary ultra-low noise FET transistors are carefully selected for optimum performance. This stage drives the passive high frequency part of the RIAA equalization stage.
The second stage consists of a class A symmetrical differential amplifier, with a common base driver stage, which is also used as an active amplifier in the low frequency part of the RIAA equalization stage. The third stage inverts the signal to provide the balanced output along with the second stage output; this third stage uses the same circuit topology as the second stage. The power supply is a discrete symmetrical stage using fast diodes and a low noise voltage reference. Each stage has its own dedicated power supply and LED reference current sources. To maximize headroom, the Aura has a 60% higher supply voltage than would typically be found in a similar preamplifier. Very high quality polypropylene capacitors have been used in the signal path. In the RIAA EQ stages, the capacitors are made of polypropylene with a tolerance of 1%, while audio-specific capacitors are used in the rest of the circuit. Switching between Gain, Mute and Mono is done with high quality relays.
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NOTE: Mute the unit or set the volume control to minimum before changing the gain settings. The gain settings switch selects the voltage gain of the phono amplifier. Gain I selects 69.5dB (switch out), while Gain II selects 63.5dB (switch in); in this way it is possible to obtain an input sensitivity of 67 µV and 131 µV respectively for an output level of 200 mV unbalanced and 400 mV balanced. The balanced output is actually 6dB louder than the unbalanced output. We recommend starting with the lower gain setting II and increasing it to I if necessary to accommodate lower gain cartridges. Since the balanced output is effectively 6dB louder, it may be advisable to select gain setting II when using it; this also depends a lot on the sensitivity of the connected amplifier
Capacity
There are five different input capacitance settings: 1000 pF, 2000 pF, 3200 pF, 4300 pF, and 5700 pF. Select the required capacity as indicated by the manufacturer in the head specifications. It is possible to try different load conditions, as sometimes, by changing the capacitance, different sound performances are obtained, more suited to one's personal taste; this applies even if the manufacturer does not specify any load capacity. To match some “legacy” preamps, select 5700 pF. The 1000 pF setting is optimized for the Rega range of MC cartridges.
Load settings
There are five different input load settings: 50 Ω, 100 Ω, 150 Ω, 300 Ω and 400 Ω. Select the required load to match the manufacturer's specifications for the head. You can try different load conditions, as sometimes changing the load gives different sonic performance more suited to your personal taste. To match some “legacy” preamps, select 400 Ω. The 100 Ω setting is optimized for the Rega range of MC cartridges.
Mute
Allows you to mute the signal when changing gain settings, between tracks, or when changing discs.
Mono
This function allows you to play mono recordings through a stereo cartridge.
