Hegel V10 is a phono stage for turntables with MM and MC heads. The Hegel V10 was the first product of this type in the Hegel catalogue. According to the manufacturer, the engineers made the device as high quality as possible. Otherwise, according to Hegel, this product would not exist at all. The basis of the Hegel V10 is the circuits and technologies that the company uses in its amplifiers and DACs.
The input stages use hand-selected pairs of field-effect transistors, and the output stages use bipolar operating elements. Characteristic circuit design features are zero feedback and a full-fledged dual mono design. Including a linear external power supply based on a shielded W-shaped transformer, with independent sources for each channel. The device is equipped with full balanced outputs for connection to an amplifier.
Out of the box, the phono stage is configured to fully work with MM heads. But almost its main advantage is its extraordinary flexibility in settings. For example, the capacitance for the MM head can be adjusted from 100 to 467 pF. And the impedance for the MS head is from 33 to 550 Ohms, or 47 kOhms. The gain, depending on the type of head and the output used, ranges from 34 to 72 dB. In addition, there is a switchable third-order subsonic filter with a 3 dB roll-off from 20 Hz. The output impedance of the corrector is 200 Ohms, the channel separation is 84 dB.
When creating audio components, you should always try to make them as good as possible. Or don’t do it at all. These words of Bent Holter, the founder and chief developer of the Norwegian company Hegel, guided the designers from Oslo when designing their debut phono preamplifier, the V10 model. The device is implemented in a compact but weighty case. Its height is only 60 millimeters. But with dimensions comparable to the size of a book, its weight exceeds 2 kg. The width of the front panel is exactly half of the standard 420 mm. Moreover, this is how the manufacturer positions it: the quality and sound of a device for 3 thousand euros at half the cost.
The traditional slogan for the Hegel company when presenting the new model was the combination “Into the groove”. This reference to the famous composition of Madonna is intended to symbolize the utmost precision in following even the most complex tracks of gramophone records. And maximum compliance of the reproduced music with the sound engineer’s intentions. After all, the Hegel V10 phono stage fully corresponds to the concept chosen by Bent.
Hegel V10 specifications:
– Ultra-low noise discrete FET input stage for MC and MM
– XLR output gain:
– MM: 40 dB / 45 dB / 50 dB / 52 dB
– MC: 60 dB / 65 dB / 70 dB / 72 dB
– RCA output gain:
– MM: 34 dB / 39 dB / 44 dB / 46 dB
– MC: 54 dB / 59 dB / 64 dB / 66 dB
– Input impedance MC: Adjustable from 33 to 550 ohms / 47 kohms
– Input capacitance MM: 100 pF / 147 pF / 200 pF / 220 pF / 247 pF / 320 pF / 420 pF / 467 pF at 47 kohms
– Output noise: -84 dB / MM, -81 dB / MC
– Output impedance XLR / RCA: 200 ohms
– Crosstalk: -84 dB @ 1 kHz 0 dBV
– Frequency Response: 2 Hz – 20 kHz
– Distortion: MM: < 0.005%, MC: < 0.009%
– Inputs: 1 unbalanced RCA (MM), 1 unbalanced RCA (MC)
– Outputs: 1 unbalanced RCA, 1 balanced XLR
– Power adapter: Hegel Power Adapter M30103
