SPL MMC 2

Our aim in the development of 120V mastering equipment was the creation of a technology that would be superior in audio quality to all known and foreseeable audio formats, whether analog or digital. Such a console would provide both for an unaltered reproduction of the sonic quality of SACD and DVD-Audio and in the process, remain a safe capital investment for many years. Digital audio formats have undergone continuous development and change and will continue to do so. The degree of incompatibility created by the “format war” between PCM and DSD is a main argument for a technology that is superior in dynamic range, headroom and sound quality to either or any other such format – and that is discrete analogue technology in its most advanced implementation.

Moreover additional aspects speak for the employment of high-performance analog technology:
The number of necessary AD/DA conversions should be reduced to a minimum. With the MMC2, digital sources can be connected to a digital router, which outputs the selected source through the preferred DA converter. This ensures that the sound quality remains comparable and is not affected by converter differences. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, high quality analog outboard processing consistently proves itself superior to digital processing. The analog concept allows for problem-free integration of such analog processors.

Monitors and power amplifiers are almost exclusively analog in design. Yet another converter at this point in the chain only degrades monitoring signal paths. Furthermore DSD signals cannot be monitored on a digital monitoring that operates in PCM.

New Analog Technology
SPL’s SUPRA operation amplifiers are used throughout. They perform at an industry benchmark of 120 volt. The SUPRA op amp achieves a signal-to-noise ratio of 116dB with a headroom of 34dB. The dynamic range amounts to 150dB with a frequency bandwidth of 200kHz.

With such specifications, the MMC2 rides comfortably beyond the requirements of either the current maximum 24Bit/192kHz PCM format or 1Bit/256 fs DSD format.

MMC2 Configuration

Source
The Source section is divided into two parts: Stereo and Multi-Channel Inputs and Stereo and Multi-Channel Returns. The inputs are fed to the mastering path. The MMC2 accepts two stereo inputs and two 8-channel inputs here.

The Return On switch allows for selection of two stereo and four multi-channel returns in total to offer selection options for returns from recorders, DAW, SACD and DVD-Players, AC3/DTS encoder/decoder, and so on.

Input
Signals selected in the Source section are routed to the Input section. The signal passes a passive Phase Reverse switch, followed by the detended Trim control. The trimming range covers –10dB to +10dB in 0.5dB detentions. The trimming stages can be switched out of the signal path entirely.

Insert
The signal is now routed to the Insert send/return connector. The MMC2 offers a switchable Insert point to include external processors into the signal path.