As mentioned above, the Magnifier is a two-box unit, with a 430mm width main chassis and a separate, external power supply in a matching, one third-width case. The substantial casework adds to the weight, with the head-unit weighing in at 15.2kg/33.5lbs, while the power supply adds another 3.8kg/8.4lbs. Even the matching remote tips the scale at around half-a-pound. The detachable umbilical (I do hate captive leads) is a generous 1.5m in length, allowing you to tuck the power supply away if you want or need to, although this is one PSU that doesn’t need to hide its face in shame.
Controls and switches are disposed along the front-panel and towards the rear of the top-plate. Reading from the left, the fascia gives you the power switch, input select for MC1 and MC2, RCA line-in and XLR line-in, RCA output, XLR output and the rotary volume control. The infra-red receiver for the remote (volume only) is located immediately above the main volume control. Using infra-red means that operation is line-of-sight, worth pointing out given the current preponderance of App-driven network control these days. The small rotary switches on the top-plate are aligned behind the front-panel selectors they adjust, offering load and gain (±6dB) settings for the MC inputs and individual fixed or variable output for the RCA and XLR outputs.
The Magnifier as phono-stage…
First order of business is to establish just how good a phono-stage The Magnifier is. After all, if it doesn’t cut the mustard on phono-replay, few people are going to take it seriously, irrespective of its other facilities. Costing the best part of €40K, it’s operating in rarefied atmosphere, in the upper reaches of LP replay. There are more expensive phono-stages out there, but they are genuinely in “if you have to ask…” territory. Stepping down to the ‘barely affordable’ level, performance standards are set by the CH Precision P1, both the benchmark performer and The Magnifier’s closest competition, at least on paper. But paper is a long way from the realities of system matching and optimisation. Getting the best out of The Magnifier (or the P1) depends on more than setting the gain and loading to suit the cartridge. It’s also about having the right cartridge to suit the phono-stage.
Like most phono-stages on the market, The Magnifier is a voltage sensing device. As such, and as suggested above, you will need to set overall gain input loading/impedance to match the cartridge you are using. Thales supplied one of their standard Voro cartridges to run with The Magnifier and, as you would assume, it’s an excellent match and a perfectly good place to start. With a healthy 0.66mV output noise is no issue at all, while an internal impedance of 12Ω makes (c.10x) matching easy. Running the input at +6dB gain and 100Ωs loading, there was plenty of level and a background as stony silent as the P1’s. As the listening progressed, I ran through other cartridge options – the Lyra Etna Lambda and Dorian, the Fuuga, the Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement – without encountering gain or noise issues, despite The Magnifier’s relative lack of adjustability. It seems that the Thales design team have got the choices right when it comes to simplifying the options.
