oneal oe THE WELL-TEMPERED ARM :,EQUIPMENT REVIEW {EN MARK LEVINSON PARTED COMPANY WITH 5 variable response | the company that markets amplifiers bearing his oer Six 2 ed atenuators these fame, he set up anew company, Calo, not itcly 5 precision Surprisingly dedicated to excellence in sudo Sen cae ive m ‘i area ingineering, For over e decade Levineon’s o by Burwen over ‘exclusively solid-state products have been ‘ 2. {20rin, 500M, ee, See Eisinguished by two factors one a perfectionist cost no-object ci Gof at just 6aB/ocave. While ‘concerning design and construction (only surpassed in ely have the ability to boost or cut Fecentyears by Krell, and the other the total omission of tone the two outermost controls serve Jontrols infact ts fir to say that he spearheaded the purist, Bend edge of tne oversll response. These havea Minimalist approach, so iis onic that the product with which he ogres of calibrated action. with up to =29d8 at 2 Ichoee fo launch Cello is you've guessed ita tone control! ominal riz and + 2408 at 546i available in precise 168 stops. MThe rice of near perfection, state-of the-art, or whstever, is never solution i doubled 0 0.548 steps, with How. andin similar manner to the way in which Mark redefines ° B, while in the S0OHE-24H2 region, wher | what wealthier enthusiasts wore prepared to pay when he or ‘ost sensitive, the controls are correspondingly more Vintroduesdihis original amplifiers, he hasn't done things by half this | subtle in their action, +648 being available with 0.25dB steps. The | time. The Audio Palette, as this tone control is called, will cost UK slow rolloff deliberately provides a degree of interaction between the customerso cool E5900! Controls so that the user can refteratively arive atthe desired degree "Outrageous, wo are sure you are saying, ‘Unbelievable Sftonal correction, overshooting and then returning, Jalou: dayahtroboen end much maven same oid sensible A/B comparison with the bypassed, unchanged eee alex, Carter, Patek Philippe, andthe | signal, left and right volume controls are provided to equalise, Dy fe-and you will have an idea of the consumers at whom Celio ta, the subjective loudnesses, As well os acting as ¢ balance control. “are aimed. Where the Audio Palette is concerned, it will this facility allows the Palette to prove itself in an even-handed | ifthe customer has both a measure of good 110 50 foro manner which would not otherwise be possible, duo tothe level Mae aerrer tip concerned, and ie also Gemonding of | change. In addition, a master output evel controls included so that, | cay ntetestsene,ia,ideliy othe orginal Nwleio | idesred, ne Pslto cantons. pom mote directly, masning ts rs oe ie on ot vintage classic recordings | that witha line-evel source such as CD, no preamp is needed, oe Despite its bul, the Palettes intended to be used as a remote unit Saar «review, which would be largely ielevant, | atthe listening position; long balanced leads with Litz construction just record whot we heard and observed during a bret ‘and Tofion insulation tormod by Mark ‘Colo Strings’ are provided bstrecord what we leapent some five Hourshooked up | to faiiate this. Aremote power unit supplies fully-regulated £20V, Fone Palete en eegpBpreampandD-1ie power | this being further regulated on each ofthe seven pebsto +24V. | | aia i es ead ereplanartiiligsndtrontend | _ The Paletieincludes an Absolute Phase suteh, normally set at Sudepeakare Wore Mae McIOOWell Tempered | oF on-inverting, and inverting the phase when soto 180” In uso, the ‘switch gave me something of a shock, asthe listening tests report Dower amplilier boards, which can be mono'ed to provide 3 100W Naaaea trary ormuleted by Richard Burwen, | amplifier or centre channel use in aBelltype stereo system, which rae core Coast engineer, and broughtto_ | uscettvoe loudspeakers. This mone amplifier can also be used to pe and eli sespecied Ferhiaiong.ime.sssociate Tom | drives subwoofer with the appropriate iter cards > JA RECORD REVIEW NOVEMBER 10>che ih precio ee sore Class-A gain blocks, which come intwo bene rronolXLR socketry if necessary. ne Siem eg ee ee ate Fon ean almost magical. An ea tepvatod COs: none cuorned insensitive tothe moderating and proving effect of the so-easy-tonuse Palette, Th intention. Eoing to Mark isnt to try vo doctor anything Rather, the Palette tho lstener to attempt to restore sorne of the equalisation anges that have crept into the recording’. Dfeouse, the Plette not only countersthe tonal imbalances ofthe bring process; by its vary ivclusion in the listening chein itl etautomatcally for ite defects as wal, Using test frequencies in lowt0-vpper boss range, provided some control ofthat prs vera sounds, including the effect ofthe room. Over the mid rebleranges, the foom ean be left out ofthe equation, but the wi continue to deal wth the broad tonal inaccuracies inthe ep RAK ng, onde general character ofthe blstonearnveartidge set-UP. prisinly. in viow of tho igh price of Levinson products, the =r Slaid i root Mars avourte smal OUSEDRA ots good beheviour regarding resonances, when Palattaitcan love ts identity. simply becoming an alement ‘overall performance. Thus a modest audio system with | ae kal merit can be substantially improved, even though zn is Paes intended role though such failings still exiatin wi ane ‘these will hopefully be oe Lace on ofthe Peiote can be focused on the ProOreM lg upset the apple cart for us regarding the usefulness of ergonomically optimised, cone control Mark thon ed to show the audible effect of Absolute Phase co ondione withosolectod track nave been able to ident ferences consistently, but not ones which Worry ie, ly under normal listening conditions. | have to admit) RECORD REVIEW NOVEMBER 985 el being sceptical when | read reports that some enthusiasts rate it 08 being of fundamental importance. form ‘The Phase Inverter switch on tha Pale de nena ana "my opinion on the matter, But k did prove POSSI 10 . raferrad setting on nearly every recording tried. Each time, the ‘correct setting gave an impression ofa firmer, cleaner sound with @ feeling ofa foundation’ to the music ‘The phase switch was 60 clear in action that deciding its optimum setting became an intrinsic part of the process of spinning the a ‘main tone wheels. Occasionally this setting was in dispute, since on some recordings O° would be right for the vocalist but wrong forthe backing this suggesting a lack of phase agreement between the various mixerimie channels ‘The engineering, construction, feel and finish of the Audio Palette are all beyond reproach. Mark Levinson has shown that. provided itis ‘designed and built to a sufficiently rigorous standard, @ tone control ‘may be placed in even the finest systorns without introducing @ 108s ‘in absolute quality, and then make a substantial subjective ‘contribution to the musical performance on almost any recording. |'can already hear the old guard saying ‘We told you so, we have: ‘been using tone controls for years’. The reply must be that use of ‘one controls is not valid if the absolute quality of the reproduced ‘sound will suffer as a consequence, which happens so often with apparently adequate electronics designs. “The Cello Audio Palette could, however, be described as @ ‘dangerous conceps. [tis open to misuse and the range ofits controls could give responses exaggerated to the point of derision. Personal | taste must play its part, but think ofall those millions of rack systems ‘with the loudness buttons permanently depressed. There is also the point that a hi-fi system Incorporating @ Palette becomes a moving. Target as far as assessing the worth of any equipment change is concerned. Gone is the constant reference sound on which & reviewer tries to base his continuity of judgement? itis many years since Mark Lovinson defined the high-end market ‘and showed just how high audio standards could be. He has now ‘established a renewed approach to natural sound quality. While the price is almost beyond belief by any normal standards, the Palette ‘offers more than the tone controls found on conventional hist equipment, with its usefulness extendod by its additional facilities fend exemplary construction. High volume sales are not expected (!) ‘and production fs set at 10 units/month forthe entire world market. Uk distribution is by Automation Sciences, EQUIPMENT REVIEW Like many enthusiasts, became an adherent of the ‘no tone controls’ school of thought for two reasons: [heard improvements when the felevant citcutry wes bypassed completely; and, more importanth ‘used them in any ease. twas with some Scepticism, therefore, that took part in Martin’ listening sessions, ut having tried my hand with the Palette, | am forced to say that it provided the most useful tonal corraction | have experienced (and {het includes both grephic and parametric equalisers, as well as the ‘Sophisticated tonal shaping now used by Quad). As Mark said that ‘hternoon in late August, the Palette enables the listener "to caringly, Knowingly. imaginatively fill in all the details to recreate better than. ‘Sver tho musical experience’. have to agree that it does just that “Apart from the well-chosen band centres, the considerable contro} ‘overlap, coupled with the ease with which the dials could be spun, fond the use at the listening position, made it extremely easy to Zoro-in on the best setting to compensate for the tonal inadequacies Sf the rocording chain and decide on the correct musical ‘colour’ Interestingly felt that, almost unconsciously, was making the Colour of the noise on the recording more truly ‘pink’ when operating the Palette, and lalso found it noteworthy that Mark, Martin and {were tending to agree on the, sometimes very subtle, adjustments that were necessary. “As one who fs considerably more sceptical than, say Stanley Lipshitz or Ken Kessler about the ultimate relevance of correct signal polarity, |was astonished by the audibility of the change introduced By the Palette's Absolute Phase switch. can only assume that, al tings being equal and gain and frequency response certainly snere this due to the lack of background hash introduced. ‘Would buy 4 Palette, assuming | were the Kind of customer that dovan't know that cars cheaper than a BMW 735csi exist? To be frank, my gut reaction would be to say no, as | find the idea of such, Comprenensive tone shaping too open-ended to be comfortable. SOiwervative by nature, l will probably remain content to accept Gitar the recording engineer, sometimes limited by viewpoint as welt wrel technology, hes given me, But if anyone can make as complex Sidce of circuitry as the Pelette as subjectively transparent yet more Shordable, | might be tempted; the effect on that Ella recording eontioned by Martin wasnothing short of miraculous! +