MISSION CYRUS 2
- Condition: Used
- Price: 190.34 EUR
- Status: unsold
- Item number: 276875418672
- Bids: 0
- Seller: breibung3lu5 (1518|100.0%)
- Seller information: non commercial
- Item location: Watersmeet, Michigan
- Ships to: US
- Shipping: 49,0 EUR
- on EBAY
-
Description
An original, for US market current amp - NOT - 220 Made in England Let me be blunt: this is NOT a rock n roll amp, low end is not its strongest point. But this little amp really came alive connect to a pair DLK model 1 1/2 (4 ohm) speakers. - The sound across the spectrum was fabulous. If you mate this amp with cheap production speakers - unpleasant results. OWNERS MANUAL included 4 pages per sheet of paper (booklet) PRE AMP is always on! Even turning the power switch off, so this has always been connected to a power strip- off unless listening. Banana clips included (for speaker outputs CUT TO offset lengths for safety, should you need longer wiring) NEW rubber FEET installed, slightly taller for better venting below- an old review:The Mission System Mission Cyrus Two amplifierMission Cyrus Two amplifier: $599 original retail The Cyrus Two is a very compact integrated amplifier, considering its 50Wpc output, Apprx 14x 8.5x 3 3/4. The front carries a volume control, a source selector marked Listen, another selector marked Record, and apart from an on/off switch and a red Cyrus Two logo (illuminated when the amplifier is on), thats it. No tone or balance controls to disturb the signals flow from source to loudspeaker. The source selector switches are idiosyncratically labeled: P, O, D, T, T. It takes more than a moments thought to realize that these stand for Analog Disc, Off, CD, Tuner, and Tape. The manual warns about setting both Listen and Record selectors to Tape; the result will be an unpleasant oscillation. The back panel has the RCA jacks pointing upward, significantly facilitating the connecting of leads. It also means that the sockets can be mounted directly on the printed circuit board. Though these nickel-plated sockets are conveniently labeled. To the right are two pairs of 4mm sockets for speaker connection (these will only take banana plugs) INCLUDED, again mounted on the pcb, a headphone socket (which doesnt switch off the speakers when in use), and a covered receptacle for connecting Missions optional PSX auxiliary ±40V power supply. On the left rear, two pairs of phono sockets adjacent to a grounding post handle MM and MC cartridges; a switch selects whether the internal MC head amplifier, based on the popular LM394 super-matched transistor-pair chip and a Signetics low-noise NE5534AN op-amp, or the MM input circuit, again based on a 5534AN, is in circuit. The RIAA equalization circuit is based on an LF353 dual high-speed, FET-input op-amp, the massaged signal then going to the selector switches.Inside, the layout is both rational and designed to give the simplest possible signal path. Line-level inputs are taken via a single-strand ribbon cable straight from the sockets to the source selector switches, these mounted on the pcb and connecting with the front-panel knobs via plastic extenders. The volume control follows, again connected to the front panel by an extender but I wasnt happy to see that though the control is sourced from the respected Japanese company ALPS, it was their cooking pot. Though this will not adversely affect the sound to any significant extent, its channel matching at low levels will be less good than I would have liked.The center of the large single pcb contains the power-amplifier circuitry. Based entirely on discrete transistors, each channel is very compact, occupying a mere 7 in.2 of board space. The direct-coupled class-A/B output stage—standing bias current is a healthy 60mA per channel, the amp running quite hot as a result—consists of two pairs of small TO220-cased bipolar transistors per channel bolted to a reasonably large, finned aluminum heatsink on the right-hand side of the chassis. These wide-bandwidth transistors are apparently exclusive to Mission—I believe they are made by the French Thomson company—and are said to be exceptionally linear. Measured DC offsets at the output terminals were low, being between 1 and 7mV on the three Cyrus Twos I had to hand; this shows good quality control on the part of Mission.The pcb is cut away behind the front panel to accommodate the 200VA toroidal power transformer. ( see photo) The only component not mounted on the pcb, it is sourced from the well-respected Scottish Holden and Fisher company, who also supply English manufacturers Naim and Exposure, as well as Mark Levinson in the US. The power supply proper has separate diode bridges for the disc and power amplifier circuitry, with ±10,000µF reservoir capacitors feeding the latter. The preamp reservoir is less hefty, of course, but low-impedance LM317/337 voltage regulators supply a generous ±18 volts to the op-amp circuitry.Obviously an audiophile has been at work on the selection of passive components: high-quality, metal-film resistors and polypropylene-dielectric capacitors are abundantly present. The sound: In addition to being used with the other Mission components, the Cyrus Two was used extensively for the speaker reviews in this issue of Stereophile. Some areas of performance stood out. The bass was quick, the midrange detailed, and high frequencies were clean, though the extension was a little curtailed in the extreme HF. Soundstaging was good, with excellent depth, though the image seemed a little confined to the loudspeakers. Others took time to make their presence felt. There was a sense of ease to the sound, despite the relatively low power, and the excellent transparency rendered reproduction always musical.On the minus side, low-frequency extension was noticeably lacking when compared with the similarly powered (but four times as expensive) Krell KSA-50. The rather forward midrange meant that some records reproduced with a little too much aggression, and the treble was ultimately thought to be a trace soft. All in all, however, this is excellent performance for what is a very compact, relatively inexpensive product aimed at the mass market. Certainly, its hard to think of a combination of preamplifier and power amplifier costing $600 that would rival the Cyrus Two. The Cyrus Two provides a taste of high-end sound at an affordable price, and can be recommended to those with shallow pockets but expensive tastes.SpecificationsPower output: 50 watts per channel into 8? (stereo)Frequency response: 1Hz to 50kHzTotal harmonic distortion: 0.003%Damping factor: 100Input sensitivity: 0.2mV (MC), 3mV (MM), 50mV (line)Signal to noise ratio: 75dB (MC), 84dB (MM), 86dB (line)
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