YBA Passion vs YBA integre dt integrated????

Brandon_My system consisted of JMLAB COBALT 810's,Audio Refinement Complete Amp and YBA CD3,Vandersteen 2wq,Cardas Cross Speaker Cable,Magnan VI interconnects,RGPC, various Harmonic Tech and YBA powercords.I also have extensive experieince with the Electra 915's w/YBA preamp,McCormack amp.Theta DAC,Cal Delta trans etc. My dealer that I go to carries the JMLAB/YBA line. In a nutshell. I find the YBA a little too lean(tight)on bass and detailed for the JMLAB. JMLAB's are in my opinon,thin sounding and on the bright side of neutral. That tweeter calls it's attention too much. Ask Sam Tellig if he thinks maybe the UNICO int. tube/hybrid amp would be a good match with the JMLAB Micro. He gave it a rave review from what I hear and at $1300...dirt cheap compared to the PASSION.

Aniwolfe...Thanks for the reply. Looking at your former system and having had some experience with both the Audio Refinement and YBA CD 3 I can see how it may have had a hard time driving the older Cobalt 810's suffiently. I can also see how some would find the YBA to bit a too lean on bass in some systems as well. My only complaint with your earlier post I guess would be that with Sea2 looking at the Passion/Micro Utopia setup, you're not even close enough to say that you'd be comparing apples and oranges when comparing it your former system. The Micro Utopia's aren't even in the same world as the current Cobalt's and Electra's much less the older discontinued Cobalt's and Electra's you refered to. That's still not saying that the YBA/JMlab combo would be idea for everyone and I do respect that it isn't for you. I still stand behind my earlier post however and beleive you can't beat the Passion/JMlab Utopia combo anywhere.

Also, as far as the Unico goes, I've been reading a good bit on it lately, from Sam Tellig as well as others, and I am quite interested in it. It is very high on my priority list to demo one of these as well as the new Unico CD coming out at around $1700 I beleive.

I agree that the Micro Utopias are completely different than the Cobalts. I must say that the thing that impressed me the most was that JM Labs chose the YBA Passion Integated to launch their new Utopia series at CES. You know they are going to want to give it their best shot and they chose this amp. Right after I hear this Stereophile gives it glowing remarks. It sounds like a winner! Any comments on how it compares to the Plinius? I haven't heard it set up yet, but that will be my next step. Thanks for your comments.

I bought the passion. I get it next week. I'll let you know the impact!

You are going to be very happy with that baby. Good luck and happy listening. warren