Phono Preamplifiers

Michell Engineering can trace its roots back to the mid-1960s, when John Michell set up an engineering and model-making company. He was introduced to Stanley Kubrick and crafted the spaceship ‘Discovery’ for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey – a design which would come to inspire the GyroDec turntable. In the late 1960s, Michell was commissioned to make parts for Transcriptors turntables and took over manufacturing of the Hydraulic Reference when Transcriptors relocated to Ireland. Michell’s first turntable, the Reference Electronic, was introduced in 1977 and closely followed by the Prisma which marked the first use of an acrylic plinth. The 1980s saw the introduction of the GyroDec [HFN Jun ’82], followed by the Syncro [HFN Oct ’91] and Mycro [HFN Apr ’97]. The Orbe [HFN May ’95] remains the company’s flagship 30 years later.

The first electronics came in 1989 with the Iso phono stage, Argo preamp and Alecto power amps [HFN Apr ’94]. The Alectos were later updated to Mk2 status, and the Delphini [HFN Apr ’00] and Orca replaced the Iso and Argo. John Michell passed in 2003 but the company was bequeathed to daughter Julie and her husband Steve Rowland, who continued to run it. The current MD, Jonathan Nye, is Julie and Steve’s son-in-law, so Michell remains a true family affair.