Michell Apollo Phono Stage Launched at The Bristol Hi-Fi Show

Michell's Apollo is manufactured, designed and engineered in the UK and promises to provide audiophiles and vinyl lovers with a tangibly real performance, thanks to Michell's underlying design philosophy – "for the love of music".

The Apollo is a two-box solution developed to keep unwanted RF noise to an absolute minimum. Jonathan Nye, Michell's managing director, told StereoNET:

Noise is the enemy of phono stages, and so we've taken every step possible to eradicate noise, such as the separated power supply and preamplifier stages, the enclosures machined from solid aluminium and the specially developed linking cable.

Michell states that every element of the Apollo and Muse has been crafted to do more than preserve the music's fidelity - "they bring the performance to life."

We're told that the Muse power supply uses a high-quality, low-noise toroidal transformer, advanced capacitance multiplier technology, and high-quality voltage regulators to reduce ripple and noise, delivering two highly filtered and regulated DC outputs.

Meanwhile, the Apollo phono stage also includes an additional power supply circuit, which is said to further refine and regulate the incoming DC so the amplification stages receive immaculate and stable power.

The smooth DC supply is fed to the Apollo via a specially developed link cable that provides a physical separation between the two enclosures and is designed to reject external noise. High-quality silver-plated OFC copper conductors, FEP insulation and AL-foil Mylar separators all contribute to the cables' ability to deliver an exceptionally pure power supply.

The Class A preamplifiers apparently borrow tech from professional microphone amplifiers, another application that requires extremely clean amplification. Combining these sensitive amps, a finely tuned passive RIAA circuit and regulation and feedback circuits should guarantee the best possible consistent performance.

For maximum compatibility with MM and MC cartridges, the Apollo features user-customisable load and gain settings, selected via a bank of DIP switches on the underside of the enclosure neatly hidden by a magnetic cover.

Michell machines each enclosure in the UK from solid aluminium to form a tight-fitting clam-shell design. This acts as a Faraday cage, keeping unwanted electrical noise within the Muse PSU from escaping and preventing external noise from entering the Apollo.

The Apollo and Muse combination will be available from March 2025 from Michell retailers across the UK, with the Apollo, Muse and connecting cable package priced at £3,500. Pricing for other territories is yet to be confirmed.

We were told that there's much more to come from Michell in the coming year so stay tuned for more news as we get it.

Visit Michell Engineering for more information