Cyrus 40 PPA

The Cyrus 40 PPA is a phono preamplifier designed for demanding vinyl setups. It allows up to four turntables to be connected at the same time thanks to its individually configurable phono inputs, a rare capability for this type of device. It belongs to the 40 Series from British brand Cyrus, recognisable by its aluminium casing and the 5-inch touchscreen built into the front panel.

The touchscreen provides access to all settings without the need to physically handle small switches, unlike older phono preamplifiers. Each input can be configured to work with an MM or MC cartridge, the latter requiring finer adjustments. Gain is set in 5 dB steps, while input loading and capacitance can be adjusted independently for each connected MC cartridge, with everything controlled via the remote.

Inside, the circuit board moves to six layers compared with four on previous generations, an improvement that reduces interference and lowers background noise by 20%, a sensitive point when it comes to reproducing the low levels typical of vinyl playback. Stereo level meters built into the screen display output level and include a peak hold function, useful for precisely setting the gain of each turntable.

The 40 PPA is aimed at vinyl enthusiasts with multiple turntables or planning to expand their collection, as well as MC cartridge users seeking fine control over gain and loading without having to open the casing. Its balanced XLR output also makes it a sound choice for systems where the downstream amplifier or preamplifier accepts this type of connection, with the unbalanced RCA output remaining available in parallel.