Graham Slee - Accession MC- moving coil phono stage with volume control

Now MC users can enjoy all the benefits of our patented Accession’s unique equalisation system.

So how does it sound?

According to Paul Szabady of the Stereo Times: "The soundstage always exceeded the boundaries of the speaker placement, and with the higher performance front-ends, the boundaries of the listening room itself. The ambience of the recording venue was always captured with a refreshing clarity and orienting naturalness, and instrument placement was so precise that it triggered synaesthetic visual response. Music-making, as with the MM Accession, was direct and faithful, completely devoid of artistic distortion." See full review here

All is not what it seems...

The Accession MC (and MM) answer the age old question: "wouldn't a constant EQ slope be better?"

Yes it would! You see, RIAA EQ is a compromise built on the limitations of the 1950s, when one problem created another. And that's all because of the cartridge...

Simply put, magnetic cartridges don't have a flat output. News to you? Well it would be, as you've always been told different. Your cartridge might have come with a plot showing you how flat its output is? But they use a constant velocity test record!

The cartridge output actually rises by 60dB (one thousand times) between 20Hz and 20kHz. And to make it so valves could cope, RIAA obliged by putting a kink right in the middle of the record's frequency response and some boost in the lower bass. And it's been like that ever since, and probably always will.

You have a non-flat cartridge reproducing a non-flat record, all designed for 1950s reproducers, and you're spending a fortune expecting great results...?

Right to this day phono stages apply cut as frequencies increase, curtailing it for a couple of octaves in the mids (the RIAA "kink"), then continuing until some cut-off point. They treat the entire signal as if it's "the recording curve" (which it isn't). And each manufacturer has a preference for doing it actively, or passively, or both, or splitting the curve, and so on...

The Accession MC (as well as the Accession MM) gets straight down to business by equalising the cartridge first, thus answering the age old question: "wouldn't a constant EQ slope be better?" (we did it and we patented it)

It then has the simpler task of correcting for the record's 20dB of combined kink and boost. It even has a constant amplitude "flat" output, just in case they ever record records flat (and acoustic records never sounded so good!).

So now, at last, you can expect great results!

And with the NEW PSU1 Enigma micro-signal power supply those results will be even better!

The standard PSU1 power supply has powered our phono stages, MM and MC, through a number of great reviews since its introduction in 2000.

However, Graham Slee had refused to accept moving coil as superior no matter how hard he tried to the contrary, which simply led to us making better and better MC phono stages, which have delighted our ever increasing customer base... but not him.

During development of the Accession MC he found the much revered technique of PCB ground planes could be improved by also hard wiring ground returns. According to the experts this makes absolutely no difference, but the difference was immediately audible (all Accession MCs are supplied with ground paths hard wired).

So his thoughts turned to the PSU1, and the application of Kirchhoff's current law and its violations.

Something he'd witnessed developing other circuits sprang to mind and investigating the PSU1's energy storage (the reservoir caps) it occurred to him that by fitting capacitors which met very particular rules, the "microscopic" signal currents, which according to him, were not being treated equally, would improve matters greatly.

Frustratingly there was just one value in only one capacitor range capable of meeting those very particular rules. These were obtained and it made such a difference that he now prefers moving coil!

The PSU1 Enigma is equipped with a specially made DC cord, originally auditioned with the standard PSU1 where it made no difference, but it definitely does with the PSU1 Enigma!

If you are an existing Accession MC owner and would like to upgrade to the PSU1 Enigma, you can do so by sending us your standard PSU1 and by paying the price difference and shipping. Please contact us using this order form.

Full details on our unique EQ system can be found here.