The Component That Got Away: Audiophile Edition
Jerry Del Colliano By Jerry Del Colliano
Author's Reference AV System

Posted on: March 19, 2025
Reading Time: 9 minutes

The Cello Audio Palette
There is no one audiophile component that represents the pinnacle of career selling stereo equipment more than the Cello Audio Palette. Cello was Mark Levinson’s follow-up company to his namesake brand that he lost control of in the early 1980s. Mark commissioned designer Dick Burwin to make a mastering-grade “program equalizer” that was second to none in terms of its performance at the time of its product launch, also in the mid-1980s. This analog EQ could be used “off-label” as a one-source preamp, but normally was paired with a card-based stereo preamp from Cello, called the Audio Suite. The Cello Audio Suite was way ahead of the curve in its modular (fully analog) design, as you could have a card for balanced inputs, unbalanced inputs, a phonostage, and more. If Cello didn’t have a stock card for what you needed, they would make you one specifically to your design needs. The strongest tie-in between the Cello Audio Palette and the Cello Audio Suite was that it shared a power supply, which by today’s standards seems like a less-than-optimal standard, but it worked at the time.

What makes the Cello Audio Palette so rare is exactly what makes Enzo-era Ferraris so pricey at auction – which is scarcity. There couldn’t have been more than a few hundred Cello Audio Palettes ever made for worldwide consumption. The fact that the Cello Audio Palette and the Cello Audio Suite power up from the same power supply means that they are often sold together as a pair and, even back in the day, these components were quite expensive. That means finding a Cello Audio Palette without the accompanying reference preamp is not quite as likely. A mid-1990s retail price on a Cello Audio Palette was over $25,000. That didn’t stop recording studios and mastering labs from buying them then, as well as seeking them out now as an exotic and vintage component. Consider a Cello Audio Palette to be the EQ version of a studio that has a collection of vintage microphones from the likes of companies like Neumann.

I’ve never technically owned a Cello Audio Palette, but I sure as hell sold them and worked every day with them before I left Cello Music and Film Los Angeles while a junior at music school to start AVRev.com with an $11,000 commission and barely half a clue what I was doing. Starting a stereo magazine with a black-and-white Apple MacBook 520B laptop, complete with a 9600-baud dial-up modem, was pretty foolish in retrospect. So was not buying a Cello Audio Palette before I left working for Cello, as they would have given me an insanely good price on such a high-end audio component. Would I have been smart enough to keep such a sought-after audiophile component? Realistically, that would be a no. Somewhere in the future, I would have I needed money, and I would have likely sold the Audio Palette, but that doesn’t change me still wanting one to this day. I recently found a used Cello Audio Palette and Audio Suite on eBay.com for over $30,000, which is way, way, way out of my budget, but I did love the idea that I could find one at any price at this late date. Perhaps the idea of dreaming of owning one of these sought-after equalizers is enough? More times than not, it feels that way, but it doesn’t keep me from looking around from time to time.

https://futureaudiophile.com/the-component-that-got-away-audiophile-edition/



最後修改時間: 2025-07-12 20:58:50

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