The Realios A9031 for the 500 series racks is a microphone preamplifier using the classic Dick Swettenham Olympic Studios Design. This version features a class-A transistor output.
Dick Swettenham's three transistor microphone preamp design is truly a thing of beauty. The sound of these types of microphone preamps is legendary. You've heard it on records made at Olympic studios in the 60s and 70s. It's now available again in a 500 series format package.
This version features a class-A transistor output stage which will drive the most demanding of loads. This feature is most welcome since the original Olympic microphone preamps were integral parts of their respective mixing desks and never meant to be connected directly to an output.
Other additions include: finer gain steps (5 dB), a high-impedance FET DI, phase reverse switch, and switchable phantom power.
