Mitchell & Johnson has launched the 800 Series, a new flagship range of hifi components, its first to be entirely designed, engineered and built in the UK. The new 800 Series represents a significant milestone for Mitchell & Johnson, as the company transitions towards a new era of entirely British built equipment for its customers, following a period of investment in the UK.

The first products to be announced in the new 800 Series are the S800 ‘digital’ preamp with multi-input DAC and phono stage, plus the matching S815 power amp, which are both priced at £1,299 each. Both are available in brushed silver and brushed black. A matching CD player is expected in November.

The new S800 is Mitchell & Johnson’s flagship preamp and has been designed to cater for both the vinyl renaissance and digital music-listening in all its forms. The S800 benefits from an internal phono stage, compatible with both Moving Magnet and Moving Coil cartridges, plus a built-in ESS Sabre 9018 DAC with an XMOS asynchronous USB input plus three optical and three coaxial digital inputs.

The preamp’s analogue inputs include six connections: five unbalanced RCAs plus one balanced XLR. Outputs include two unbalanced RCA plus one balanced XLR. Left and right dedicated subwoofer outputs bring additional flexibility with A/V systems and provide useful convenience for 2.1 audio set-ups and general subwoofer experimentation. Further connections include a pair of fixed-level record outputs. S800 also has a dedicated internal headphone amplifier with a fascia-mounted 6.35mm/quarter-inch headphone jack. Further features include a Burr-Brown analogue volume control and a 12-volt power link. The electronics are housed within the new 800 Series casework which features a solid aluminium machined front panel with custom-machined aluminium dials controlling volume attenuation and source selection. The front panel also includes an on/off toggle switch, standby mode indicator and IR sensor. The extra-large LCD display panel provides source selection and volume information. A fully functioning remote control is also included.

Mitchell & Johnson’s flagship S815 power amp has been designed to complement the S800 preamp and shares the same new 800 Series casework with a solid aluminium machined front panel, on/off toggle switch and standby mode indicator. Central to the new S815 power amp’s design is a pair of illuminated VU meters, visually indicating the output level across both left and right channels.

Benefitting from Class A/B architecture, the high-current design S815 offers   150 watts RMS (into 8 ohms) and 300 watts RMS into a 4-ohm load and has been designed using six Toshiba high-power audio-grade output transistors per channel. In order to complement the partnering S800 ‘digital’ preamp, the S815 power amp offers both RCA and XLR inputs, and also benefits from RCA stereo line outputs for bi-amping should additional power be required for each channel/speaker. Dual gold-plated loudspeaker terminals are used and a 12-volt power link offers simultaneous startup when used in conjunction with the S800 preamp.

READ MORE HIFI NEWS WITH HIFI PIG