A conversation directed me to an eBay listing for some old Cello gear this week. In it, the seller claimed to have an improved power supply for the Cello Audio Suite. I choked when seeing that.
Any student of high-end audio understands that good power supply design is critical to audio quality.
But who could believe that the original Cello Master Supply is in need of improvement?
Even today, after thirty years' time, the Master Supply stands as a statement of how to build an ultra-conservative linear supply for professional-grade low and line-level audio circuitry. I own several that have been powered on continuously for almost thirty years, with no issues.
pic
The Master Supply hit all of the right bullet points. Varistor protection from AC line surges. Thermistor regulated soft-starting. Inductor based line noise filtering. Over-sized, high-wattage toroidal power transformer feeding dual, independent polarity, full-wave rectified regulated supplies. On-board regulator fault detection that remotely trips the AC mains line input breaker, shutting the supply down for safety.
In summary, the Master Supply was simply a high-quality linear supply that was done right.
Real, original Cello gear is very worth our efforts in preserving. In the remote possibility that a Cello Suite or Cello Palette owner reading this needs Master Supply service or repair today, or perhaps wants to explore the possibility of upgrades, then I'd encourage them to first reach out to Paul Jayson at Viola Labs here in the USA. Paul of course worked with Mark Levinson and Tom Colangelo, back in the day.
I haven't spoken with Paul in several years, but if it turns out that Viola can no longer service the old Cello Master Supplies, then please feel free to contact me at ATAE and I'll try my best to help you.
Any student of high-end audio understands that good power supply design is critical to audio quality.
But who could believe that the original Cello Master Supply is in need of improvement?
Even today, after thirty years' time, the Master Supply stands as a statement of how to build an ultra-conservative linear supply for professional-grade low and line-level audio circuitry. I own several that have been powered on continuously for almost thirty years, with no issues.
pic
The Master Supply hit all of the right bullet points. Varistor protection from AC line surges. Thermistor regulated soft-starting. Inductor based line noise filtering. Over-sized, high-wattage toroidal power transformer feeding dual, independent polarity, full-wave rectified regulated supplies. On-board regulator fault detection that remotely trips the AC mains line input breaker, shutting the supply down for safety.
In summary, the Master Supply was simply a high-quality linear supply that was done right.
Real, original Cello gear is very worth our efforts in preserving. In the remote possibility that a Cello Suite or Cello Palette owner reading this needs Master Supply service or repair today, or perhaps wants to explore the possibility of upgrades, then I'd encourage them to first reach out to Paul Jayson at Viola Labs here in the USA. Paul of course worked with Mark Levinson and Tom Colangelo, back in the day.
I haven't spoken with Paul in several years, but if it turns out that Viola can no longer service the old Cello Master Supplies, then please feel free to contact me at ATAE and I'll try my best to help you.
