Award-Winning Aesthetix Rhea Phonostage Now Joined By Calypso Line Stage
Thursday 21 December 2006
By David Denyer
Aesthetix Calypso
Aesthetix president and designer Jim White began his pursuit of the ultimate preamplifier designs over 10 years ago, introducing the Jupiter Series of preamps in 1994. The “Io” phono stage and “Callisto” line stage became industry benchmarks. These incredible preamps use between 16 and 32 valves each and in their ultimate configuration, create a six-chassis 122Kg preamplifier.
Jim has now utilised his knowledge and experience to create the Aesthetix Saturn series: “Rhea” phono stage, “Calypso” line stage and “Janus” preamp. The Saturn series combines the sonic excellence of the Jupiter preamps in single chassis, beautifully styled, remote controlled components that elevate the performance of all high-end music and home cinema audio systems.
Technical
The Calypso is a 6 input (5, plus tape monitor), high gain line stage with all gain accomplished with valves and no solid state amplifying devices in the signal path. All inputs are fully balanced and feature both XLR and RCAs. The fully balanced differential circuitry is able to internally balance a single ended signal.
Only the highest quality components are used in the Calypso. A discrete resistor volume control is employed with 88 1dB steps.
Special attention is given to quality control. All valves are tested, gain matched and then carefully selected for low noise and microphony. All units are subjected to thorough testing which verifies all functions are operating correctly and all sonic parameters are met. All units also undergo a burn-in period and listening tests.
Features
There are front panel controls for input selection, volume adjustment, mute, absolute phase, display brightness, bypass selection and standby. All functions can also be operated by the included remote control, which can also operate the other preamplifiers in the Saturn Series, the Rhea and Janus. Each input is fully disconnected from the audio circuit when not in use.
Two pairs of Neutrik XLR and two pairs of gold plated RCA sockets are provided for audio output. The bypass function can be assigned to one or more of the 6 inputs. Once configured for bypass, that input will automatically go into bypass whenever it is selected and system volume control would then take place using an external home cinema processor, the volume and mute functions of the Calypso are disabled for each bypass input.
Technical Specification:
Aesthetix "Calypso”
Functions Standby, input selection, absolute phase, bypass (unity gain), mute, display
Overall Gain: 16dB, 28dB selectable
Tubes
V1: 12AX7WB
V2: 6922 (6DJ8)
Power Consumption Standby: 20 watts
Active: 100 watts
Dimensions (W x D x H): 457 mm x 447 mm x 111 mm
Shipping Weight: 17.5 Kg
Warranty period: 3 years
UK
Selling price (Inc. VAT)
Aesthetix Calypso: £3,600.00
AVAILABLE NOW
Consumer contact
Audio Reference,
Unit 8 Enterprise Park,
Slyfield Industrial Estate,
Guildford, GU1 1RB
Tel: 01252 702705
Fax: 01483 301412
Email: info@audioreference.co.uk
Distributor’s web site: www.audioreference.co.uk
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