British Hifi brand Exposure’s new top-of-range 5010 series features a preamplifier and a pair of mono power amplifiers and builds on the brand’s previous flagship, the MCX series.

Exposure say the MCX series had just one potential drawback: it was massive. Which wasn’t a problem in the days of ‘bigger is better’ but lately our living spaces are becoming more compact and we’re living an increasingly mobile lifestyle. During 2016 and 2017 Exposure introduced its XM series of Hifi components, which is half-width size. So the company then turned its attention to revisiting the top end of its offering and the question of how to make them a fraction of the current physical size.

The result is the brand new 5010 series which features two products: a preamplifier and a pair of mono power amplifiers. On the extruded front panel of the power amplifier you’ll see nothing more than a power button, while that of the preamp is equally pared-back with just a power switch, a single input selector knob and the volume control. The mono power amplifier has double the power of Exposure’s 3010 series equivalent. It features an 800W transformer with dual rectification and two 10000uF screw terminal capacitors, along with eight power transistors per channel. A specially designed slow start circuit reduces the power-on surge. Cascode circuits are used for the input and second amplifier and are fed from active rail smoothing circuits.  Welwyn RC55 resistors and polypropylene and polystyrene capacitors are used in critical positions.  The input is relay-switched between balanced or single-ended to ensure the shortest possible signal path.

The preamplifier sports six line inputs, also switched by high quality relays. One of the inputs can be reconfigured as either an MM or MC phono option with the addition of an extra PCB, or as a DAC option with the addition of a plug-in board. The latter is capable of up to 192/24 bit PCM and DSD 64, and comes with two inputs: USB and BNC, with auto-switching between them. The preamplifier has a balanced output and is DC coupled using servos at the output, and only one capacitor at the input. Its power supply features a 200W transformer, fast rectifiers and 24 high-quality smoothing capacitors.

The Exposure 5010 series preamplifier and mono power amplifiers are available now, in a choice of black or titanium finish. Prices (incl. VAT):

5010 preamplifier                                                   £2,000

Optional DAC plug-in board                                   £370

Optional MC or MM phono card                             £265

5010 mono power amplifiers (pair)                        £4,550

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