Tekton Double Impacts

I guess we all know by now ,maybe not ,that 
Walter Becker of Steely Dan died at age 67 on Sunday Sept 4th.
I told my wife that i  wanted to see them this next year .. before I DIE !
I never thought about one of them dying .
Of course I MUST mention that all of the Steely Dan and  Water Becker songs  are great on the Double Impacts . Try out some songs from  Two Against Nature ; Everything Must Go; Gaucho;
And Donald Fagen's "Morph The Cat" and "Sunken Condos" albums.
Also try some Bela Fleck and the Flektones on the Double Impact. especially songs from the   UFO Tofu;  Three Flew Over The Cukoo's Nest; Little Worlds;and  Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo albums.
Try also any of the Mushroom Jazz albums and the Verve Re-mix albums .....Great Stuff..

I could go on and on of course , but please try these and give us  your impressions,especially  if something stands out.

Good to hear porscheracer. They really are amazing speakers and it's good to see you're enjoying them. 

Had the pleasure of hearing Charles' system today. His Coincident system including their Line Stage, Frankenstein 300B mono blocks and Coincident speakers ( I forget their name) is the closest to real, live music I've heard in a system. I'm not surprised as his Frankensteins in my system took my sound to a level I've not heard before. After trying my MZ2 in his system ( more on that in a bit) I can confidently say the DI's are not the weak link in my system. Adding the Coincident Line Stage and Frankensteins to my system would give me a sound I could be very happy with for a very long time. I'm going to experiment with a 2A3 SET for now but the Coincident sound has set a high bar for me. 

Comparing the MZ2 to the Coincident Line Stage was quite a dramatic contrast. The MZ2 is very good as a preamp and I'm even enjoying it as an integrated amp currently but in Charles' system it sounded lifeless compared to his Line Stage. Comparatively it lacked in dynamics and fullness. Charles would be better able to describe the sound difference. Not a knock against the MZ2, the Line Stage just sounded that much better yet. Maybe the synergy between the Line Stage and Frank's is part of it. I do know that the combination of the two is magical. 

Thanks to Charles for sharing his system with me. I've learned much from him and one of the lessons learned is that the DI's will reflect whatever is placed upstream of them with a transparency that is impressive. 

I had not heard that grey9hound. I'm a big fan of Steely Dan. Sorry to hear of his passing. 

Thanks for the musical suggestions, I enjoy trying new artists out. 

@porscheracer, thank you for the update.  I am glad that you got the satisfactory resolution.

Muzikmann and Snopro,
You two express an interest in the LTA MZ2-S and the Coincident Statement Line Stage (CSL) comparison. Tom (Mac48025) described the differences well and I really appreciate him brining his preamplifier to hear in my system this afternoon.

The MZ2-S was a good match as a preamplifier with the Frankenstein driving Tom’s Double Impacts, transparent, fast and clear with very good detail retrieval. In my system it exhibited the same traits. In direct A/B comparison with the CSL I heard the following areas of improvement with the CSL playing the same music after both were sufficiently warmed up.

1 Dynamic energy, contrast and increased "pop/startle factor"
2 Instrumental weight and presence, the sense of flesh on the bone" noticeable increased.
3 Superior musical ebb and flow, swing and soulfulness, Musicians were more in the room and very tactile with that elusive the "breath of life " aura, or you being in the recording venue. In short, more reach out and touch vibe taking place.
4 Larger scale presentation across the board and particularly with rhythm section instruments i.e.piano, stand up bass and drums very significantly more present and realistic.

I would categorized the MZ2-S as a "good" High End preamplifier.
The CSL would be by relative comparison be categorized as "superb" it is very transparent and very open. The main distinction between the two is noticeably more dynamic force, weight and superior harmonic richness,fuller tone, overtones and texture. The MZ2-S relatively speaking has a leaner and lighter weight/presence and sounds smaller in scale. This made it sound less (but not devoid) emotionally engaging.

To put in proper context the MZ2-S is 1800.00 dollars and weighs about 5 pounds and has a separate small power supply of about 3 pounds.

The CSL is 5500.00 dollars, is 2 chassis and total weight of 70 pounds (power supply chassis weighs 40 pounds).
In my opinion Tom’s Double Impacts would easily reveal the differences due to their resolving ability.
Charles