janneman said:
John Curl designed the JC2 preamplifier, one of the 1st Mark Levinson products. Hence the name JC2. John also designed the JC1-AC and JC1-DC MC cartridge preamps.
Dick Burwen designed the LNP-2. also an early product which was way more expensive than the JC2, yet sounded worse IMHO.
John Curl was Mark's 1st engineer. Too bad the site www.marklev.com seems to be down. Had much interesting info.
Burwen came again in the picture with the Cello Audio Palette equalizer/preamp.
VIOLENT VIOLAS
I met the ML man several times through the 80's and 90's , and it is clear that he was always the charismatic "conductor", but I wonder if this is the case anymore?
Regarding designers at the old Cello that moved to the new Viola; don't forget Paul Jayson who designs both speakers and electronics (a very talented guy).
Take a look at http://www.violalabs.com/designers.html
Here in Japan we think of the new Viola company as the continuation of the old Cello company, and when you experience the products in sound and styling; this is easy to understand.
I personally liked the old Cello Encore, so I keep a set of the original Encore preamp (with phono built in) and also a pair of the excellent Encore Mono power amps. The power amps are far better (performing) than the preamp which unfortunately is full of low-grade iron pillars that also are used for many electrical connections (It really makes a difference when you demagnetize it frequently.) The preamp does however LOOK really good, so I will most likely keep it in my collection.
I met the ML man several times through the 80's and 90's , and it is clear that he was always the charismatic "conductor", but I wonder if this is the case anymore?
Regarding designers at the old Cello that moved to the new Viola; don't forget Paul Jayson who designs both speakers and electronics (a very talented guy).
Take a look at http://www.violalabs.com/designers.html
Here in Japan we think of the new Viola company as the continuation of the old Cello company, and when you experience the products in sound and styling; this is easy to understand.
I personally liked the old Cello Encore, so I keep a set of the original Encore preamp (with phono built in) and also a pair of the excellent Encore Mono power amps. The power amps are far better (performing) than the preamp which unfortunately is full of low-grade iron pillars that also are used for many electrical connections (It really makes a difference when you demagnetize it frequently.) The preamp does however LOOK really good, so I will most likely keep it in my collection.
I’m so glad to see those pics of the Cello preamp internals. Considering the money they fetch, I’ve always wondered if they were built with truly exotic and unusual methods and parts, or if they were just hype. I see they are just hype.
Not to impugn the design, but jeez, look at all the sockets, connectors, op-amps, loosely twisted wire pairs, bundled wires, etc. Sorry, but this simply doesn’t look like a low/middle-four-figure piece of equipment. Sorry if (that) I offend, but this looks like a $500 preamp smothered in subjectivism and sales hype. I’ve read purists totally condemn op-amps, let alone dozens of them in a signal path who would probably worship this. Considering its age, wanna bet those PCBs are copper – oh wait, isn’t copper completely audible and sounds horrible?
Anyway, thanks again for posting the pics. This just further confirms my feelings on op-amps and subjectivist whacko’s.
Not to impugn the design, but jeez, look at all the sockets, connectors, op-amps, loosely twisted wire pairs, bundled wires, etc. Sorry, but this simply doesn’t look like a low/middle-four-figure piece of equipment. Sorry if (that) I offend, but this looks like a $500 preamp smothered in subjectivism and sales hype. I’ve read purists totally condemn op-amps, let alone dozens of them in a signal path who would probably worship this. Considering its age, wanna bet those PCBs are copper – oh wait, isn’t copper completely audible and sounds horrible?
Anyway, thanks again for posting the pics. This just further confirms my feelings on op-amps and subjectivist whacko’s.
The original Cello Encore preamp had discrete circuitry designed by Tom Colangelo.DCPreamp said:
The Cello shown here full of opamps seems to be from the shaft of James McCullough.
http://matthew-james.net/intro.cfm
It's very surprising to see Sfernice pots on a unit costing that much money... From the channel tracking tests I've done (I once worked for a firm that used Sfernice PA11 in commercial quantities), they're really nothing special tracking-wise, even the 10% variant. The feel isn't up to much either. There are many pots I'd put in front of the PA11, not least because of the PA11's fragility (ask any Tech who repairs Focusrite gear).
Justin
Justin
The Palette is not the work of Matthew-J, but still Levinson/Colangelo's wrong doing.
The critical eye would have noticed that the Cello manufacture adress on the back of the Palette is the same as Viola Labs, Viola also offered upgrades for the original Cello products in later years.
The Palette was intended as a consumer model at a third of the Audio Palette cost.
Cello sold only 5 dozen of the +$20K Audio Palette, even in the late 80s that's a poverty figure.
The cheaper palette was likely an attempt to enter a niche market with bigger sale numbers before the financial doodoo hit the fan at Cello's.
The rotten potentiometers were highly criticized by the audio reviewing press at the time when Cello introduced the Palette.
I recall it as a major dissapointment after having seen and heard the fully discrete modular Cello pre-amp a few years earlier.
The 1/6" front plate of the mega expensive Audio Palette already raised an eyebrow or two back then, stuffing an opamp clone in the Audio Palette case with cheaper knobs was a very foolish thing.
Even amateurs used nicer precision pots then, why stick crummy ones in a pre-amp that cost the equivalent of $12.5K overhere.
The critical eye would have noticed that the Cello manufacture adress on the back of the Palette is the same as Viola Labs, Viola also offered upgrades for the original Cello products in later years.
The Palette was intended as a consumer model at a third of the Audio Palette cost.
Cello sold only 5 dozen of the +$20K Audio Palette, even in the late 80s that's a poverty figure.
The cheaper palette was likely an attempt to enter a niche market with bigger sale numbers before the financial doodoo hit the fan at Cello's.
The rotten potentiometers were highly criticized by the audio reviewing press at the time when Cello introduced the Palette.
I recall it as a major dissapointment after having seen and heard the fully discrete modular Cello pre-amp a few years earlier.
The 1/6" front plate of the mega expensive Audio Palette already raised an eyebrow or two back then, stuffing an opamp clone in the Audio Palette case with cheaper knobs was a very foolish thing.
Even amateurs used nicer precision pots then, why stick crummy ones in a pre-amp that cost the equivalent of $12.5K overhere.
Attachments
Folks, I heard the Palette (later version - loaded with Opamps) once. Surprisingly, it sounded quite nice. Wondering whether anybody has the schematics for the older ones? Tone controls are useful if they are not 'abused'. Used to tape a lot of live music with 'flat' condenser mics. Post-production with minor equalization always helped. It's no different if you slightly enhance and sharpen a digital image. Mark.
Palette Preamp
Hi Guys,
The pic is of the Palette Preamp which is distinct from the original Palette.
On Monday I visited the location in Southern Ct. where the fellow who bought the Cello inventory has the remaining parts. Picked up the remaining Palette and Audio Suite modules PLUS most of the schematic drawings. Will return for more
The Palette preamp was a scaled-down version of the original using a couple dozen OP627's and a few OP633"s. Got two sets of boards for it.
Unfortunately, no sheet metal.
Charles
Hi Guys,
The pic is of the Palette Preamp which is distinct from the original Palette.
On Monday I visited the location in Southern Ct. where the fellow who bought the Cello inventory has the remaining parts. Picked up the remaining Palette and Audio Suite modules PLUS most of the schematic drawings. Will return for more
The Palette preamp was a scaled-down version of the original using a couple dozen OP627's and a few OP633"s. Got two sets of boards for it.
Unfortunately, no sheet metal.
Charles
Based on the equlizer curves found in the Sterophiles test of Palette Preamplifier, I would guess it is based on a standard design for constant Q equalizer like on Rod Elliots
http://sound.westhost.com/project75.htm
Q would be 0.7 and where the Pallette Preamplifier uses the mentioned opamps, the Audio Pallette would use discrete opamps, like the ones in the 1Mohm preamp, ofcourse with higher voltage swing than standard opamps, to ensure headroom, even when one pushes 15 Hz to +20dB.
Of course it would be very difficult to clone the 59 positions attenuators, allthough Schallco make som nice but very expensive ones with many positions.
http://sound.westhost.com/project75.htm
Q would be 0.7 and where the Pallette Preamplifier uses the mentioned opamps, the Audio Pallette would use discrete opamps, like the ones in the 1Mohm preamp, ofcourse with higher voltage swing than standard opamps, to ensure headroom, even when one pushes 15 Hz to +20dB.
Of course it would be very difficult to clone the 59 positions attenuators, allthough Schallco make som nice but very expensive ones with many positions.
This is an old thread but I need help in creating a sub Master Supply for my Audio Suite with P603 and P301 modules.
I figured out the color power input terminals are for
BLU = Ground
YEL = "TL" ? (not clear, I need help with ID)
BLK = -30VDC (what current capacity in A?)
WHT = Common
RED = +30VDC (what current capacity in A?)
There were few other mentions on other forum of +/-25VDC supply being better than +/-30VDC. What is your recommendation for supply voltages and current capacity of the sub power supply?
How do I handle the YEL unknown terminal?
Thanks for your help in advance.
Regards,
Ki
I figured out the color power input terminals are for
BLU = Ground
YEL = "TL" ? (not clear, I need help with ID)
BLK = -30VDC (what current capacity in A?)
WHT = Common
RED = +30VDC (what current capacity in A?)
There were few other mentions on other forum of +/-25VDC supply being better than +/-30VDC. What is your recommendation for supply voltages and current capacity of the sub power supply?
How do I handle the YEL unknown terminal?
Thanks for your help in advance.
Regards,
Ki
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