The 543 Mono Compressor delivers the unobtrusive, musical-sounding dynamic control and brick-wall limiting made famous in the Portico 5043 to the 500 series format.
The 543 features a fully controllable compressor-limiter with feed-forward / feedback modes, Peak / RMS detection and a built in side chain high pass filter. With an unrivaled heritage and a tremendous feature set, the 543 yields a combination of rich warmth, flexibility and precision that is sure to resonate in the ears of sound engineers the world over.
Built around Mr. Rupert Neve’s custom transformer designs, each 543 module encompasses individually controllable threshold, attack, release, makeup gain, ratio, side chain HPF, Feed-Forward / Feed-back selection and Peak/RMS detection modes.
With the compressor inactive, the 543 may be used as a transformer-coupled, high-performance line amplifier, and two 543 may be linked for stereo operation as well. The chassis is built to standard 500 series specifications, with power and I/O provided by the rack.
SPECIFICATIONS:
GAIN RANGE
Continuously variable from -6 dB to +20 dB
THRESHOLD RANGE
Continuously variable from -30 dB to +20 dB
RATIO RANGE
Continuously variable from 1.1:1 to Limit (40:1)
ATTACK RANGE
Continuously variable from 20mS to 75mS
RELEASE RANGE
Continuously variable from 100mS to 2.5 Seconds
TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION AND NOISE
@ 1 kHz, 0 dBu output level, no load.
Main Output, compressor bypassed: Better than 0.002%
@ 20 dBu better than 0.0015%
Main output, compressor engaged: Better than 0.075%
NOISE
Measured at Main Output, un-weighted, 22 Hz - 22 kHz, Terminated 50 Ohm. Noise specifications may vary depending on which 500 series chassis is being used, and / or interference from stray magnetic fields.
With Gain at Unity, Compressor disengaged: Better than -98 dBu
With Gain at Unity, Compressor engaged: Better than -93 dBu
FREQUENCY RESPONSE
Main Output, Unity Gain: @ 150 kHz -3 dB
METERS
For monitoring OUTPUT LEVEL and GAIN REDUCTION
LINE INPUT IMPEDANCE
10,000 Ohms
MAXIMUM OUTPUT LEVEL
21 dBu from 20 Hz to 40 kHz
POWER REQUIREMENTS
500 series rack with 110-125 mA @ +/- 16V