Has anyone heard the new North American products preamp and amp?

Thanks mapman,

I hope you get a chance down the road to give a listen.
I will be at the Newport Beach show in June.

Roger

Roger, just wanted to add that having the upgraded 10X MkIII in the system now for approximataly
three months, have to conclude that the so called sweet spot is not
as critical a sitting position.
In many cases before this acted as a spot light effect. This effect now
is broader like a flood light filling 
the room with music.
I've always addressed room accoustics as being 50% of your 
sounds and consequently now believe that the full potential of my
system has been achieved.

Xaviercg, if what you state is in fact the case, in a way that would belie what Roger has indicated as a reply to my post where I asked if speaker placement even if off in the slightest would adversely effect distortion, etc.

I think you are misinterpreting what both men said. 

gdhal,

Those observations are slightly different.
It is true when I describe the projection that results in a full stage shift caused by the slight offset in distance between the speakers and your ears. If you were sitting in the hall for real and your turned your head slightly to the right (making your left ear closer to the stage) would it not appear that your perception of the stage has moved slightly to the left?

Regarding the sweet spot. Here is where I may get into trouble.
A portion of the "sweet spot" is directly caused by distortion. Surprise!
Both stereo channels have the same circuit. Having the same circuit means they behave identically. Whatever distortion is present in one will be present in the other.

When full spectrum music is played, the distortion product in both channels will be the same and it (the distortion) will manifest itself as an [additional] sound object all by itself. To the observer it sounds like a monophonic "entity". In order to experience the "spot" you can move your head from side to side while looking straight ahead. You will sense a moment when it seems like you hit a focal point of significance. Depending on how much of the music is close to common (centered or vocal mic mixed in as mono) you will have a distortion object added to your presentation. That object is dead center (assuming close matching of circuit components). If your speakers are at slightly different distances it will not be dead center.

This can be confused with an actual sweet spot created by the polar dispersion pattern of your speakers and how the venue was captured.

Because of the nature of H-CAT - after the electronics is burned in – the final remnants of the common distortion product disappear and you will be able to perceive a wide open sound stage that can be “viewed” from many listening positions. If this were not true then only the people in the hall who are seated dead center would have enjoyed the performance.

Roger