Michell Apollo phono stage
It has been a while since Michell launched any electronics that weren’t directly related to controlling the speed of a turntable but the company’s history in this area dates back over 30 years to their first phono stage the Michell Iso. That compact but very effective preamp was designed for Michell by Tom Evans and Graham Fowler who worked together as Trichord for a brief period, their main activity was in upgrading CD players with better clocks in the dark days before the big brands had cottoned on to the importance of such things. Shortly thereafter Graham took over the Trichord brand and specialised in phono preamplifers right up until he ceased making the things late last year.
The last Trichord phono stage was the Neo and CM-PSU which we spotted at Audio Show Deluxe last year, this model never made it to production but something very similar appeared under the Michell brand at the Bristol Show in February. Michell had clearly cut a deal with Trichord to use this basic design for the Apollo phono stage and Muse power supply that was unveiled at that event. It’s not hard to see why, this is a very nicely put together pair of components in superbly finished clamshell casework.
When we spoke to MD Jonathan Nye at Bristol he explained that Michell had made some refinements to the design in the areas of component quality and incorporated the gold logo that is inset into the casework, they also went to some lengths to find a high quality power supply link cable to join the two units. They ended up getting Chord Company to build it for them using their Choralloy plated XLR connectors, and used a shielded cable to stop noise getting into the power as it travels to the phono stage.
The Apollo and Muse casework does not just look good with its waffle pattern and satin finish, it is designed to act as a Faraday cage to keep out radio frequency and electromagnetic interference. The case is a clamshell design with two halves that are fixed tightly together with a metal on metal contact, this keeps out the interference that would raise the noise floor of the electronics if it got inside.
The Muse is a linear power supply that uses dual filtration and ‘very high quality regulators’ to keep noise on the DC outputs to a minimum. There is a second power supply built into the Apollo in order to further reduce noise and regulate the power going to two stages of Class A amplification built using hand matched components and monitored using feedback for maximum consistency. RIAA equalisation is done passively as is the case with most phono stages today.
The Apollo can be adjusted to suit a range of MM and MC cartridges via four sets of dip switches hidden beneath a panel on the underside of the case, and turning it upside down reveals that there are ‘cups’ machined into the base that retain four rubber feet. Undoing a brass thumbscrew allows a cover to be removed revealing switches to set loading with different levels of gain and impedance being available. The gain range runs from 40dB to a high 73dB (for very low output MCs), while impedance covers the range 33 Ohms to 47 kOhms, the latter being suitable for moving magnets while the four others are for MCs. Capacitance is fixed at 100pF which suits the vast majority of cartridges.
Build quality is very high on the Apollo and Muse, from the machined casework to the choice of connections on the back, Michell have clearly decided to do the job to the best of their abilities and those abilities are well established thanks to many decades in the turntable business. Both in- and outputs are on very nice RCA sockets and the earth clamp is a decent size and feels like it’s built to last. In fact the whole thing has clearly been designed to give many years of service, I used a Trichord Delphini phono stage (of which a Michell variant was also made) for a long time and that must be 20 years old, yet it still works perfectly.
Sound quality
When fed signal from a Skyanalog Ref moving coil mounted on my Rega Naia turntable the Apollo revealed itself to have plenty of gain and, as a result, no shortage of drive. It rocks pretty hard thanks to the power that it manages to give the signal and the evenness of tonal balance that it brings to the party. It has a solid, grounded sound that suggests that nothing is being pushed too hard and that everything is under control.
The Apollo also does the subtle stuff, the air and shimmer of cymbals and the space which those fine details reveal in the recording. This makes for a strong sense of being there with live recordings which is reinforced by a physicality of sound that puts the musicians in the room. Bugge Wesseltoft’s latest album Am Are has some great moments, not least Reel which encourages a closing of the eyes so that you can float off into the cosmos. Bag by comparison is a snappy power trio piece with a solid bass line that times superbly with the Michell. The whole album is so much better on vinyl than in its digital form that it’s almost a different beast.
I experimented with the Apollo loading on the Skyanalog cartridge and found that gain made quite a significant difference to the results, switching from 60dB to 68dB clearly extracted more energy from the cartridge and brought out the brilliance of Bob Dylan’s early electric material with ease, but then Visions of Johanna came along and note taking fell just stopped. Switching from 100 Ohms impedance to the next step up (430 Ohms) proved less successful with brightness being over egged, but this cartridge has a theoretical preference for 50 Ohms so, in retrospect, I should have gone the other way.
Moving over to my Rega Aphelion 2 cartridge brings out a warmer, juicier side of the Apollo, and this makes it sound more forgiving than those that sacrifice everything for speed and detail. It’s not slow however and nor is there any shortage of detail, it just has a very even balance and a great sense of timing that draws you into the music regardless of its style. I also really enjoyed the immense subtlety of Herbie Hancock’s piano playing on his River, the Joni Letters album, this is a great recording and allows the body of the piano and double bass to inhabit the room in very convincing fashion.
Imaging is also a strength, with Perlisten S7T LE speakers (which are very capable in this respect) the Apollo delivers impressive depth and precision of soundstage, with instruments placed clearly and definitely. Tone is also really good, especially that of Wayne Shorter’s horn which can be hard with a phono stage that can’t cope, here it was immaculate both in sound and delicacy of playing. The separation of various elements in a mix is also a strength, when a larger band gets busy the Aphelion 2/Apollo pairing manages to stop any masking of one instrument or voice by another, recording allowing of course, which makes it easier to appreciate what everyone is contributing to the overall sound.
Conclusion
Michell’s renewal of its partnership with Graham Fowler has been a clear success, the Apollo and Muse are a highly capable pairing that will bring the best out in a wide variety of cartridges. The range of loading options is not huge but wide enough to cater to the requirements of most MCs and pretty well any MM on the market, it also avoids a potentially confusing array of set-up options for the end user.
All in all the Michell Apollo/Muse is a highly successful phono stage, that it is clearly very well made by a company which has such a strong reputation for building record players instils a confidence that it will go on performing to a high standard for many, many years. The Apollo’s true value lies in both what it can do for your records and the fact that it will encourage you to carry on enjoying them for longer than you might have thought was possible.