PS1 MKII

About the PS1 MKII

The Icon Audio PS1 MKII is an all-valve phono preamplifier designed for both Moving Magnet (MM) and Moving Coil (MC) cartridges. It features a built-in volume control, stereo/mono switch for improved noise performance on mono LPs, and a choke-regulated separate power supply to minimize noise. The unit is hand-wired point-to-point with no printed circuit boards to avoid coloration of sound. It uses triode valves (3x ECC83 and 2x 0A2 regulator valves) and custom-made MC transformers for smooth, detailed sound. The PS1 MKII offers a warm valve sound particularly suited to vinyl, with high overload tolerance to reduce distortion and noise from worn or imperfect records. It has a high output level allowing direct connection to power amplifiers, and includes premium components such as Japanese Blue ALPS volume potentiometer, silver PTFE audio cables, gold-plated input/output terminals, and polypropylene audio capacitors. The chassis is polished stainless steel with solid alloy front and rear plates. The PS1 MKII is regarded as a reference standard in hi-fi vinyl playback and has won accolades such as HiFi World 5 Globes.