Mobile Fidelity Announces MasterDeck & MasterPhono – First Look
All Image Credit: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
With Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs continuing desire to bring the sound of the master tape into your home they have announced two new vinyl products; the MasterDeck turntable and the MasterPhono pre-amplifier. The turntable was designed by Allen Perkins while the phono pre-amplifier was designed by Peter Madnick, with both products being manufactured in the US.
Full details are still limited but the MasterDeck uses a unique 10″ (25cm) tonearm that incorporates the benefits of a ‘zero gap’ unipivot bearing with a gimbal design which is said to give it extra precision, control and tracking capabilities. The arm is manufactured from carbon fibre with a patented Spiral Groove counterweight and removable headshell, you can adjust the horizontal angle (azimuth), vertical angle (VTA) and overhang, allowing optimization for virtually any cartridge, wiring is provided by Cardas. The main body frame is made from real wood sitting on new anti-vibration feet designed by HRS. It contains the three-phase brushless DC (BLDC) sinusoidal drive motor that is housed in an isolated container and drives the 1.75 inch (4.0cm) thick Delrin-top aluminum turntable via a belt. Speed is electronically controlled with fine speed adjustment of 33, 45 and 78rpm being displayed on a four-digit display. The turntable also offers the additional flexibility of an interchangeable arm board.
MasterDeck Specifications (TBC):
- 33-1/3 / 45.0 / 78.0 RPM belt drive turntable
- Unique 10-inch MoFi Master hybrid tonearm design – allows for all adjustments (Overhang, Azimuth, Zenith VTA, and Anti-Skate)
- Spiral Groove bearing
- 1.75-inch aluminium and Delrin platter
- Isolated 3-phase BLDC Sinusoidal motor drive
- Four-digit display shows fine adjustment of 33, 45, and 78RPM
- Cardas Audio arm wiring
- Anti-Vibration feet designed by HRS
- Black constrained layer damped aluminum top
- Solid wood frame in black sapele or walnut
- Dimensions W x D x H mm: 508 x 356 x 203
- Weight: 19.5Kg
The MasterPhono dual-chassis preamplifier is designed around a fully discrete, DC coupled, balanced, wide bandwidth, all-FET input and output stage, with a fully regulated and shielded, galvanically isolated, internal power supply having dedicated left and right channels.
Image Credit: HiFi.nl
It uses passive RIAA equalization and has both current-mode and voltage-mode inputs enabling the simplified use of low impedance cartridges. If the current mode isn’t to your taste then the more common voltage mode inputs support ten selectable loading presets, custom R/C loading RCA’s and adjustable gains over four ranges, all selected using programable relays.
Rear panel connectivity is provided using balanced XLR and unbalanced RCA inputs and outputs with custom loading RCA’s. The front panel contains the VU meters that display both signal levels and support cartridge alignment, plus controls for; input selection, gain adjustment, mute, mono operation, meter operation and subsonic filter.
Finally the convenient remote provides access to; input selection, gain adjustment, mute, mono operation, meter operation and subsonic filter.
Features At A Glance:
- RCA/XLR: Voltage & Current inputs, Trans-impedance dynamic loading
- Dual-chassis: Power/Signal isolation, low noise, separate grounding
- Gain settings: 40/50/60/70dB, Impedance: 10 settings + Custom
- Fully discrete balanced circuitry, servo-controlled, DC-coupled, high pass filter
- Passive RIAA: Precise parts, NOS capacitors, accurate resistors
- Cascaded voltage regulation, ultra-low noise
- Remote controlled: Input, gain, mute, mono, meter, subsonic filter
- Dual Function VU meters for monitoring or cartridge calibration
MasterPhono Specifications :
- Input (MM/MC): Current mode & Voltage mode, balanced and unbalanced
- Gain: Selectable gain for MM or MC 40db, 50db, 60db, 70db
- THD, A-Weighted:
- 10mV@1KHZ MM low: 0.005%
- 10mV@1KHZ MM high: 0.005%
- 1mV@1KHZ MC low: 0.010%
- 1mV@1KHZ MC high: 0.013%
- Cartridge Loading: 15 Ohms, 30 Ohms, 50 Ohms, 75 Ohms, 100 Ohms, 500 Ohms, 1K Ohms, 10K Ohms, 47K Ohms+150pF, & “Custom”
- Output Impedance:
- Balanced: 230 Ohm
- Unbalanced: 115 Ohms
- Max Output: @1% THD, 10 Volts RMS
- RIAA Accuracy: +/-0.05dbFrequency Response: 10Hz – 50KHz +/-0.20db
- S/N ratio (20Hz-20KHz):
- Balanced MM: 85db, 93db
- Balanced MC: 81db, 85db
- Unbalanced MM: 75db, 83db
- Unbalanced MC: 69db, 75db
- Remote; input selection, gain adjustment, mute, mono operation, meter operation and subsonic filter.
- Dimensions: 17.5″ x 3.5″ x 15.75″/43.2×8.9x40cm
- Weight: 15 lbs./6.8Kg
Availability:
Third quarter 2023.
MSRP (US/EU/UK) (TBC):
- MasterDeck: $6,000.00/€7,500.00/£6,999.00
- MasterPhono: $5,995.00/€5,999.00/£5,499.00
For more information visit the MFSL web site.
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