The »Marconi« line stage and the »Edison« phono stage are closely related, visually as well as sonically. They both process the signal with vacuum tubes and solid-state components. And of course they are both optimized for sound quality without cutting corners and are built with highest precision in mind. The »Edison« offers three separate phono inputs followed by switchable 1:1 input transformers. The impedance can be optimized for each input in 12 steps between 47 Ohms and 47 kOhms. The gain can be adjusted for each input individually in 16 steps by means of a knob on the front plate; the settings for gain, impedance and routing (transformer in or bypassed) are saved in an EPROM chip when switching to another input. The first gain stage employs bipolar transistors carefully selected for their sonics. The RIAA equalization curve is applied between the two following tube stages; the EQ network is implemented partly as local feedback and partly as plate load of the first tube stage. A third tube stage handles the phase inversion for the balanced outputs. (As is to be expected from Brinkmann, the equalization is very precise and switchable between RIAA and IEC curve.) With its adjustable gain, the superior S/N ratio and the extremely low distortions, the »Edison« will extract all possible information from any given cartridge.