Chord Company has launched the PhonoARAY, a high-performance earthing system designed to upgrade turntables and other sensitive audio devices. The PhonoARAY is an advanced standalone filtering solution that allows turntable users to earth/ground their devices to the phono stage, or the phono input on amplifiers, providing maximum protection for the highly sensitive signal.
The PhonoARAY benefits from a hand-wound, ultra-high-current series filter joining both terminals, plus a complex proprietary ARAY system, connected in parallel, creating a double “virtual earth system” for both the turntable and phono stage. This combination shields the sensitive signals from external interference with great effectiveness, resulting in cleaner and more detailed sound reproduction.
The PhonoARAY connections are via two high-quality 4mm speaker-style terminals, accepting 4mm banana and spade connections. The PhonoARAY then connects the earth terminal of the turntable (or tonearm) to the earth terminal of the phono stage (or amplifier phono input) using a dedicated high-quality 50cm screened earth cable (4mm connector to spade connector).
It can be used in a variety of turntable configurations, including turntables with or without built-in phono stages. In systems with external phono stages, a second PhonoARAY can also be added, additionally connecting the phono stage earth to the amplifier earth.
The PhonoARAY benefits from a thick-walled enclosure machined from solid aluminum billet, providing electrical and acoustic isolation. Additionally, resin filling within the enclosure further reduces microphony, while lightweight, decoupled isolation feet minimise vibrations.
PhonoARAY key features
- Minimizes electromagnetic interference affecting turntable performance
- Series and parallel operation maximizes signal integrity
- Hand-wound, ultra-high-current series filter and proprietary ARAY system
- Double “virtual earth system” for turntable and phono stage
- Supplied with a high-quality 50cm screened earth cable
- Machined aluminum billet enclosure with resin filling
- Decoupled isolation feet
The PhonoARAY is available now priced at £1000.
The PhonoARAY comes with a 0.5m Clearway earth cable. Additional or upgrade cables can also be ordered as follows:
- Clearway 1m earth cable — £140
- Shawline 1m earth cable — £280
For more information, visit chord.co.uk.
