CAT JL-2 amp upgrade

Hello Suttlaw. I had a CAT JL-2 and concidered upgrading it to the MK2 but decided to sell it and purchase a new JL-2 Signature MK2. The cost of the upgrade of the Signature MK2 is $5000 and regular MK2 is $3000. The difference between these models is the expensive Gates black caps used in the Signature version. I love the sound of the Signature version. It has a quieter background, more resolution in the entire freequency range without loosing the richness of the sound of tubes. The base is also tighter. To me the Sig MK2 was worth the extra cost. I also have the CAT Ultimate MK2 preamp and they match very well. I changed the input tubes of the amp as well as all of the tubes in the preamp (phono + LS) to RAM Super Low Noise and I am very pleased with the resulting sound. The only issue that I have is the damping factor of the amp is not enough for use with Eidolons.

Pubul57,

I haven't tried any other preamps in the system yet. I wanted to hear the Emotive Audio Epifania ($25G) but the dealer never followed thru on his promises to bring one for a brief audition. Other posters have found the Aesthetix Callisto to be an excellent match for the JL2/JL3
amps. Many posters have decided that the CAT amps need a harmonically rich tubed preamp to balance what they find a
dynamic and detailed presentation of the amps. I have found from EXTENSIVE tube rolling in both the CAT Ult MK2 and the JL2 amp that the combination of the two is excellent. I can easily push the sound from overly textured (soggy classic tube sound) to overly detailed (hard and etched) and all points between these extremes with tube selection. I have found tube combos that strike an ideal balance (great texture, depth and soundstage combined with loads of detail and huge dynamic swings presented in a gorgeously relaxed fashion). Both the CAT pre and amps are very transparent the sound presentation is determined thru tube selection. Bugman03, I don't understand why you think the JL2 has insufficient damping factor when used with the Eidolon. The bass I hear with the Osiris is very good. I ran a pair of the Levinson 436's before buying the CAT JL2 and the CAT beat the Levinson in all parameters but especially in bass control and extension. From my experience, the Avalons work better with tubed electronics. My old pair of Manley 350's
also easily outperformed the Levinsons. Before all the Spectral and Rowland users comment, I have heard the Avalons perform very well with those SS amps, just not quite as good as with tubes. Bart

Thanks for your response Posbwp555. I had been considering a Joule LA150 MKII for the reasons you suggested. In speaking with Bobby at Merlin (I own VSMs) he suggested that rather than go that route I might want to try (I ordered it) the Ars Sonum integrated amp which he feels is very, very close to the separates considered to mate well with Merling (e.g. CAT, Joule, Atmasphere, Berning). This is somewhat of a leap of faith, since the Ars is a 30 Watt integrated costing $3,500, versus what some would consider SOTA seaparates worth $20,000. It would be very interesting to see if a synergistcally optimzed integrated and speakers can compete with some of the better separates. Of course the CAT will sound great with many different speakers with different sensitivities and impedance curves - it is a more universally "great" amp - that is not a point of contention. But the Merlins don't require a lot of power and have a very benign, easy to drive impedance curve, and Bobby know his speakers inside out. It will be an interesting experiment. After the trial I will be selling the little integrated or the CAT JL2. All things being equal, I'd rather run a small, simple integrated that can do the job (at least with Merlin speakers)- but I won't sacrifice musical satisfaction.

I am now using a Manley Steelhead phono preamp as my preamp and running it directly to the JL2s. Much better than my CAT SL-1 III preamp.

Still using my JL-2 original version amp. Has anyone had the upgrades to this model? Are they worth the money? Has the reliability been improved? Mine blew something expensive awhile back. Thanks for any information.

Suttlaw