Anyone have their Audio Aero Capitole MKII yet?

Got the manufacturer today.

Source click switching : tells me this is normal, that the Philips CD Pro transport is very picky and will refuse to play any kind of hybrid Rebook disc.

Volume : he said that very few preamps can handle the 5V of the AA Mk II, so that it is not advised to use the full volume of the AA when using a pre. He then added that the AA was NOT designed to be used with a PRE in the First place.

Track skipping : first time he heard of this, and couldnt really give me an answer as this didnt happen on my unit so i couldnt really give him all the details. If someone could email me with the exact problem i will call him tomorrow.

Cheers

First, thanks for the update! I have found that at times (not all the time) I cannot switch tracks at all using either the remote or the front panel of the unit. For example, if track #1 is playing and I want to play track #6, if I press #6 on the remote OR try to skip tracks using the > button on the remote OR the unit, the digital read-out on the front panel says "Track #6" but it does nothing and does not play at all. This gets frustrating as hell, I can tell you that. BUT, as I said, it doesn't do it all the time.

What concerns me is that it is NOT just doing it with the remote.

Any input you get will be appreciated. I will also call Matt or Jody at Globe tomorrow as they are GREAT guys and VERY helpful and accommodating!!

On a positive note - I was hoping (both before I received my AA and for a day or two into burn-in) that I had not made a mistake selling my Sonic Frontiers T3/P3. Well, after about 160 hours of continuous play, I can say now that I did NOT make a mistake selling the T3/P3 from a sonic perspective. This player has almost all of the strengths of the T3/P3 but none of the weaknesses. The AA has much less digital glare than the T3/P3 had in my system. More as the process continues.

Bryans,
I'm just being snide re my experiences working for a medical instrument manufacturer just north of Paris in the 80s. The LAST thing you want from Southern European manufacturers in particular is a low-serial number item after a redesign, as the retweaking continues ad nauseum.
We all remember the old adage about never buying the first six months' product from Detroit, right?
Well it's no different in the high end.
Re sounding different: my point is that assurance of the critical qualities of a newly-redesigned product in a manufactured lot is VERY difficult. The odds of getting two items that are clones is MUCH lower than after necessary process and component controls are tightened.
One might argue that CDPs are electronic...digital, and thus not subject to the variability of a transducer like a speaker or microphone/cartridge, but my point is that consecutive aerial numbers may even have DIFFERENT parts in them, not just more variability in tolerances that aren't tightened up by the necessity to do so that production time, market feedback, and durability (MTBF) issues might provide. Hope I'm being reasonably clear....

Badwisdom... Thanks for checking with AA...very helpful. If you do again speak to them, would you inquire about the volume control having to be in the 80-100 range, where-as with the MK I the volume would be at about 11 to 12 o’clock to produce the same loudness? I do NOT use a preamp. Also, if you would, inquire about the grounding issue (ground loop…hum through the speakers). Is this player grounded differently than the MK I? Or, do I have a defect? Anyone else heard this problem???

I too am frustrated by the fact that the player interrupts tracks that segue from one track to the next. I guess we can thank Philips for that.

For those who want to use the Audio Aero with an integrated or a pre, the manufacturor recommends using 3/4 of the volume level (approx. 2v output) and using the preaamp to adjust the gain.

Cheers