Leema Acoustics products range from the classic award-winning Constellation series, new remarkable Stellar series, sleek half-size Element series and the small but premium-grade discrete Essential add-on series; all of which are complimented by Leema's high-end handbuilt cables.

Leema was founded in 1998 by ex-BBC engineers Lee Taylor and Mallory Nicholls who wanted to explore their keen interest in audio reproduction. The began by focusing on pushing the limits of loudspeaker design to create a miniature loudspeaker able to outperform much-larger systems.

The available design principles and algorithms at the time were unable to bring this vision to life, so Taylor and Nicholls embarked on four years of extensive work accumulating in a micro monitor of unprecedented technical and musical excellence which they named Xen. It was initially only available to the professional audio market but as audiophiles learnt of the quality of Leema products, Xen moved into the domestic market.

Following this success and inspired by the overwhelming reception, they shifted their expertise to additional speakers and complementary audio electronic components resulting in the release of the Tucana integrated amplifier in 2006 which won the coveted HiFi News "amplifier of the year award" a few months later. The Antila CD player followed soon after and almost immediately swooped up the prestigious "What Hi-Fi? Sound & Vision best CD player" award in 2007.

To date, Leema Acoustic's industry-leading products has expanded to include the Reference, Elements and more recently the Essentials range. These products continue to accumulate global acclaim, “best in class” reviews and countless prominent awards.

In 2007, Leema formed a partnership with a local Welsh manufacturer Davlec to supply an increasingly high demand. Established in 1983, Davlec originally designed and manufactured electronics for the Dairy industry. In 2014 Davlec and Leema joined forces to bring together decades of experience from the production and design teams and over 30 years of manufacturing expertise to continue to produce top-standard audio products.

Some turntables feature an on board phono stage, which will allow for direct connection to an amplifier. Many amplifiers also include a “phono” amplifier internally, enabling a direct connection from a turntable. However, as mentioned, there is a wide range of separate standalone phono stages available, varying in price, size and quality to suit every taste and budget. Using a good quality separate unit can have a profound effect on the overall sound and tonality of your system, and can also be used to augment and adjust a system which is tonally too bright or too lacklustre. For example, a system which is too bright may benefit from a valve-based phono stage to remove some harshness and to offer more tonal warmth to your music. We appreciate that matching your kit can be a complicated and daunting process, so our knowledgeable team is always happy to offer recommendations or to arrange a demonstration.

The separation of components and units is a key technique in hi-fi. Power supplies are typically noisy and produce unwanted resonance, which can interfere with audio signals and the sound you achieve from your hi-fi. Separate pre and power amplifiers are preferable to integrated amplifiers, as the separation of power supplies for the pre and power circuitry prevents unwanted resonance effecting performance. This same logic applies to a standalone phono stage, and is perhaps even more significant due to the analogue nature of vinyl records, and the adverse effect that any unwanted resonance or vibrations can have on a cartridge’s ability to track and play back vinyl records. By housing the phono stage in a separate unit, the stage’s power supply is essentially isolated from the turntable, making it easier to prevent any undesired effects of resonance on you enjoying your record collection.

It is essential to match your phono stage to your phono cartridge, in order to ensure that they are compatible. Some Moving Coil (MC) cartridges are very low output, and so will need a correspondingly high output phono stage able to boost the signals to an audible level. There are also some High Output Moving Coil cartridges, whose output levels are closer to levels found in Moving Magnet cartridges, and higher than those typically found in standard Moving Coil cartridges. Some phono stages are suitable for use with these High Output cartridges, but not every type of Moving Coil cartridge. It is vital to check that your phono stage matches the power output of your cartridge, although if you have a Moving Magnet (MM) cartridge then there should be no issues with pairing.