Phono Preamplifiers

Turntable manufacturers often find themselves making a phono stage to ensure the hand-off from their product to the rest of a system is exactly as they would like it to be. Vertere is no exception and already produces the excellent Phono One MkII, but the Calon (Welsh for ‘heart’) is designed to complement its more expensive models.

All phono stages need to apply an EQ curve to the incoming signal to correct EQ applied to the record. The Calon applies the bulk of its gain to the signal before RIAA EQ is applied as Vertere argues that the result is more consistent and closer to the original. This also allows gain to be adjusted before and after the EQ phase and you can have up to 73dB – enough for pretty much any cart going. Of more specific relevance to Vertere carts is the inclusion of both a 1 and 1.5kOhm impedance setting that helps them perform at their best.

The rest of the Calon’s specifications are relatively conventional for a phono stage at this price. There is a single input on RCA available to RCA and XLR outputs, which feels a little sparse at the price. The circuitry is a dual mono arrangement on four layer boards and the chassis is made out of stainless steel to reduce susceptibility to outside electrical interference, while specially designed feet do the same for mechanical sources of noise. Vertere’s HB AC Mains Cable – which retails for £2,950 – is also included.

The result is beautifully made and extremely simple to use, with all the front panel controls intuitive and sensibly laid out. Features like the specially designed warp filter and phase adjustment speak to a device intended to be the last phono stage you ever buy. Black and silver finishes are available.

Sound quality
Initially connected to our resident Vertere MG-1 MkII (HFC 506) turntable running the company’s XtraX (HFC 512) cart, the Calon’s most immediate attribute is the extraordinarily low noise floor. This means that fine detail is extracted from this fundamentally quiet backdrop with an effortlessness that you only truly realise when you switch back to another phono stage. Dirty and damaged records have few places to hide, but this is nothing a cleaning machine cannot sort.

There are clear benefits to Vertere’s approach to the application of RIAA as well. Nils Frahm’s Spaces is tangibly real. The piano possesses spectacular tonality and genuine presence in a live space that conveys the scale of the room and the rapt audience therein. You can then change direction completely and ask for KoKoMo’s ballistic Need Some Mo’ and the Calon still finds space, order and tonal realism while never so much as slowing anything down for an instant. It is an extension of the Vertere philosophy seen with other devices: not to be the story, but simply to get on with delivering your music with as little of itself in the presentation as possible.

With a Michell GyroDec, SME 309 and Van den Hul DDT II cartridge – which has a more definite character – the Calon simply frames this character while avoiding being the story itself. A spirited run through Strange Times by The Chameleons via the GyroDec sees the Calon delivering its texture, space and detail but maintaining the sweetness and fluidity that this arm and cart possess when working together. If you like the fundamental balance of what your turntable does, the Calon will simply bring those qualities to the forefront without changing the balance.

Conclusion
Without ever feeling like it’s over emphasising something or feeling like an effects box, the Calon simply gets on with making your turntable sound as good as it can. It’s obviously an enormous sum of money and some may find themselves wanting more inputs or more theatre, but as a device for completing your vinyl replay chain it is utterly peerless. ES    

DETAILS
Product: Vertere Calon
Type: Phono stage

FEATURES
● Single RCA input
● Configurable for MM and MC loading
● RCA and XLR outputs

Read the full review in  Issue 526