CAT SL MKIII vs ARC SP 11 or 10

Buy gear to enjoy the music! Not to tell which recording is better or worse. That's engineer's boss' job! We are music lover aren't we?

Bombaywalla and Egrady yes, the 10 is euphonic and a bit more than real but what is really telling is that my heart ALWAYS enjoys if my brain is telling me something different.

So far as the CAT is concerned, yes it is murder on tubes, noisy and all that but said and done it is really a nice piece. Excellent line and phono stage. The noise is what is bothersome to me, and the tubes, does it burn through those 12au7's!! Interestingly on this topic Anthony Cordesman did a comparison of these 3 preamps in a 1986 issue of Stereophile that I just revisited, a review of the CAT. His conclusion was quite the same as the comments here with the 10 being the more colored, the CAT being closer to the 11 but the 11 reigning as the SOTA at that time. "If you own a 10 DON'T be so hasty to trade it."

It isn't quite so easy, is it? I can't bring myself to sell the CAT. Maybe I'll try that upgrade Bombaywalla.

Tubegroover -- I never had noise from my CAT, nor did I change tubes for 2 1/2yrs (OK, that's not so long). Maybe that upgrade is indeed in order?!

Greg the noise is definitely from the tubes. Unless they are quiet the noise will come through and they don't seem to last long in that circuit. It has been a continual issue since I've had the CAT. Of course this is the Mk 1

Tubegroover,

>>I can't bring myself to sell the CAT. Maybe I'll try that upgrade Bombaywalla.

I think the above statement says it all! Case rested.

Please do yourself a favour & get that upgrade! That noise floor will disappear totally & the tube reliability will increase by a huge margin. For ex., I have my Mk3 version since Thanksgiving 2001 with the tubes that came w/ it. Going strong & no need for any replacement at this time.