The Crescendo duo offers the same sonic and technical features as the flagship of the product line - the Crescendo, an 8-channel mic pre, released in September 2018. "It is nearly impossible to overdrive this preamplifier. It excels with absolute signal fidelity and clarity and lets microphones appear in a whole new light - they have never been amplified like this before," the company states.
The design features a fully balanced signal flow, with an input stage that uses 10 pairs of matched PNP Differential Input Transistors for extremely low noise and a very high common mode rejection. Both input stages feature six 5th generation 120V SPL SUPRA Operation Amplifiers each, while the transformerless design of the input/output stages guarantees highly linear amplifying. The output stages operate as current amplifiers and therefore provide Class-A operation with more than 6mA quiescent current.
Besides the switchable +48V phantom power for condenser microphones, Crescendo duo offers a high-pass filter to eliminate low-frequency noise, the ability to reverse the polarity of the signal and a PAD to lower the input level. The two large VU meters visualize the output level of the amplified signal. The ability to reduce level, shown on the VU meter, by 10dB makes it easy to display the dynamics of high levels. A highlight of the Crescendo duo is the individual control of Mic Gain and Output Gain. This way, the microphone signal is amplified in the best way possible without wasting a single dB.
The output signal can be accessed at the rear via two parallel XLR outputs per channel, allowing two different recording systems or feeding two different signal paths.
"After having brought my vision of a 120V technology microphone preamplifier to life with the Crescendo, I am now pleased that this philosophy is being continued with the two-channel version Crescendo duo. It is the ideal front-end for studios and production spaces that only require a few, but high-quality, microphone preamps to get the most out of their microphones and recordings using SPL 120V high dynamic linear technology," says Wolfgang Neumann, Chief Developer at SPL.
The new SPL Crescendo duo is set to ship worldwide April 14, 2020, retails for $2,499 USD, and is distributed by Focal-Naim America in the US and Canada.
https://spl.audio/crescendo-duo/?lang=en
www.focalnaimamerica.com
