Mitchell & Johnson have launched the 800 Series, a new flagship range of hi-fi components, its first to be entirely designed, engineered and built in the UK. The new Series represents a significant milestone for Mitchell & Johnson, as the company moves away from far eastern manufacturing. The first products to be announced are the S800 ‘digital’ preamp with multi-input DAC and phono stage, plus the matching S815 power amp, both priced at £1,299 each. A matching CD player is expected in November.
S800 ‘digital’ preamp
Mitchell & Johnson’s flagship preamp has been designed to cater for both the vinyl renaissance and digital music-listening in all its forms. The S800 benefits from a “high-quality” internal phono stage, compatible with both moving magnet and moving coil cartridges, plus an ESS Sabre 9018 DAC with an XMOS asynchronous USB input plus three optical and three coaxial digital inputs.
Analogue inputs include five unbalanced RCAs plus one balanced XLR. Outputs consist of two unbalanced RCA plus one balanced XLR. Left and right dedicated subwoofer outputs bring additional flexibility with A/V systems and provide useful convenience for 2.1 audio set-ups and general subwoofer experimentation. Further connections include a pair of fixed-level record outputs.
Tthe S800 also has a dedicated “high-quality” internal headphone amplifier with a fascia-mounted 6.35mm/quarter-inchheadphone jack. Further features include a Burr-Brown analogue volume control and a 12-volt power link.
The new 800 Series casework features a solid aluminium machined front panel with custom-machined aluminium dials controlling volume and source selection. The front panel also includes an on/off toggleswitch, standby mode indicator and IR sensor. The extra-large LCD display panel provides source selection and volume information. A fully functioning remote control is included.
S815 power amp
Mitchell & Johnson’s flagship S815 power amp shares the same new 800 Series casework with solid aluminium machined front panel, on/off toggleswitch and standby mode indicator. A pair of illuminated VU meters indicate output level across both left and right channels and must be unique amongst British amplifiers
Using a Class A/B output stage, the high-current design S815 offers a “bountiful” 150 watts RMS (into 8 ohms) and 300 watts RMS into a 4-ohm load and has been designed using six Toshiba high-power output transistors per channel.
The S815 power amp offers both RCA and XLR inputs, and also benefits from RCA stereo line outputs for easy bi-amping should additional power be required for each channel/speaker. Dual gold-plated loudspeaker terminals allow bi-wiring and a 12-volt power link offers simultaneous start-up when used in conjunction with the S800 preamp.