Thermionic Culture Phoenix Mastering Plus

Description

The Phoenix is a stereo compressor, which can be used as a pair of mono compressors. It has a ‘soft knee’ or ‘variable mu’ characteristic in that the compression ratio increases with the amount of compression being used. Initial compression is 1.2:1 increasing to 5:1 at 15dB compression.
The Phoenix is being updated continually and this unit is the Master version (suffix M) with higher stability and faster release than earlier models. A side chain filter has now been added to provide 75Hz & 150Hz, but more permutations are possible when the MC is used in stereo mode with the link switch engaged.
The Master Phoenix is easier to recall as it has a mixture of indented and switched controls and the screwdriver adjustment on the chassis behind the meters controls the current through the valves on this unit, so this corrects to some extent for valve ageing. A screwdriver is supplied with the Master Phoenix and should be used periodically to adjust the meters to zero
Stepped Input & Output controls * 6 position switched attack control * 7 position switched release control * 11 position switched threshold control
Key Features

All valve design for greater presence and naturality.
Completely free from solid state additives.
Transparent compression.
Punchy when pushed.
Drive it hard for compression effects and distortion.
Absolutely flat frequency response over entire audio range and beyond.
Minimal phase shift giving a crisp and warm sound.
Stepped Input & Output controls
6 position switched attack control
7 position switched release control
11 position switched threshold control
Side Chain Filter – 75Hz & 150Hz plus permutations.
Phoenix Specifications

Max output level (MOL)

+19dB into 600 ohms + 24dB into 10K ohms

Max Gain

30dB

Total Harmonic Distortion

Better than 0.06% @ 100Hz & 1kHz

Noise, IEC weighted

better than 100dB below MOL

Input Impedance

15k ohms

Frequency response

<1dB variation over range of 12Hz to 56kHz. Attack Time 0.004 sec to 0.12 sec Release Time 0.04 sec to 2.4 sec Output Impedance 600 ohms Distortion will increase with compression, typically 0.2% & 0.25% at 1kHz & 100Hz with 8dB compression. Attack and release controls are somewhat interdependent, for instance a change of attack setting may affect the release time slightly. Therefore, no times are given on the front panel. VALVE COMPLEMENT (2ea) Input/Compression: PCC85 (equiv. 9AQ8) Output: ECC81 (equiv. 12AT7, CV4024) Side chain detector: EB91 (equiv. 6AL5, CV4025).

Additional information