A. A. Capitole owners - what's the next step??

Hi Islandear,

I use Metronome T1A transport and Metronome C1A DAC ( I have to change the pictures of my system... ) which replaced the AA Prima mkII dac. The C1A is much more analog and smooth sounding without loss of detail. The soundstage is bigger and resolution is higher. I never expected that the AA would be outperformed that way...I am using a fiber optic digital cable (Krell at the moment, but ordered Aural Symphonics Optimism v2 ) which can't be beaten in terms of detail and musicality (in my system).

Renaat

Mattheus, I'd certainly like to hear that combo, particularly with the Kharmas. My only previous experience with Metronome are earlier, one-box iterations. I auditioned several one-box cdps and one trans/dac in my system before settling on the Capitole. BAT, Parsifals, Nirvana and the AA combine well, so I can only imagine what your combo might bring to the equation. BTW, still running Nirvana?

Islandear,

Yes, still using the Nirvana SL speakercable. I love it. However, I replaced the Nirvana SX interlink with Siltech Forbes Lake since the combination of both Nirvana on interlink and speaker side was to 'bloomy', whereas overall Siltech was too 'tiny'.

I compared Nirvana SL with other brands (Nordost, Siltech, Purist Audio), but Nirvana sounds more musical in my system.

So my next step would be the upgrade to SX speakercable. Did you already hear this SX speakercable?

The integrated Metronome cdplayers seem to be a bit more 'harsh', that's what I heared from a guy who had the Metronome CD3. But this could be system-dependent.

Renaat

Renaat, it's always interesting to see how components affect other systems. I used to run Siltech (Gen 3 80 xlrs) IMS but they were too bright. I also auditioned Valhallas, which were too forward. Nirvana found a solid middle ground which conveyed outstanding low frequency and midrange information. My system has benefited from running the S-X xlr/SL combination. I haven't had the opportunity to audition the Forbes Lake but a friend of mine is a Siltech dealer so I suspect I'll give them a shot. Yes, I've heard the S-X speaker cables and - not only because of cost savings - I'll probably go in that direction. They are a very good step up and a couple thousand $ less than the other usual candidates. I'm always amazed at how few people are familiar with Steve Creamer's cables. Once you know his background it's obvious why he manufactures such a great product for such a reasonable price.

Save your money. Get a new pair of the deHavilland GM-70's amplifiers. No CD upgrade can equal that.