Reference 3A line updated

Tubegroover and Drubin, Thanks!

Based on what I hear, I can't fathom anyone thinking the deCapos are dry or analytical. This has to be some serious system mismatching.

It surprises me how well the deCapos hold up by comparison with the Maggies. No, the Be tweeter doesn't have the magic of the Maggie ribbon, but it is very good. Sins of omission, not commission. They won't play as loud as the Maggies without a bit of congestion, but for my needs, that is not an issue. I'm not going to be listening to a Beethoven sonata at 90 dB as I fade into sleep.

The deCapos have perked my interest in the 3A line. I think I could easily live with this sound in my HT system. To bad they don't make a center channel.

I went from Maggies to Triangles to Focals to de Capo's. The Focals were the most dry and neutral, almost like listening to paper. The Maggies had incredible presence and presentation; the Triangles were gorgeous and warm; but the de Capo's were warm, forward, and in control.

I'll go to floorstanders eventually, but I'll be loathe to give up my de Capo monitors - especially as I have the beautiful red finish.

I haven't had the TSMs for quite a while, although they are very fine monitors, but I wanted to try a SET amp. Currently I have a pair of Coincident Triumph UHS Revised which are also very nice monitors and work verywell with my modded Bottlehead Paramount 300B's.

At the moment I am in the process of building an external xover for the deCapo's. I am replacing the Silver /oil Mundorf cap with a Cast CU Duelund. The resister is being replaced with a Duelund Cast silver resister. The internal wiring will also be replaced with custom silver ribbon wire.

From the tests I've conducted, with the small gauge copper wire in the deCapo, the silver improves the overall sonics of the speaker. Mainly in the bass as the copper seems slow and fat compared to the tautness and speed of the silver.

With the Mundorf cap the tweeter has more energy in the upper treble, that is why most desighers use them, and to me I could not get pass this. The speaker wasn’t balanced and on some recordings in the upper register it almost seemed that with the extra energy on top it was shouting.

I agree with the above characteristics of the deCapo. The drivers are integrated well and the crossover is on the + side of the tweeter.

I am listening to the soft dome tweeter and not the beryllium.

Seas builds a driver in the Excel series that uses Nextel. I have bought these drivers and it has the texture of suede. Interesting that Rwef 3a is offering this a a finish.

I am waiting on a shipment from Parts Connexion and will report back when I have completed the project. I have taken some photos but with A’gon’s new format it is difficult to get members email to send photos.

It would be interesting to hear the difference between the Mundorf and Cast cap. Would also be interested in hearing your impressions of silver wire. Keep us posted Irish65. On a further note I really don't note any sort of "shouting" effect with the Beryllium tweeter at all. Just a bit of forwardness at times in the upper mids that maybe shouldn't be there. Then again these speakers are in no way laid back which again some are going to love and some not. To me they give the presentation a greater immediacy and sense of liveness. The Decapos CAN offer a more "laid back" presentation if it's on the recording. Most characteristically laid back speakers over time give me a sense that all the music is presented in that manner and it's not. The ideal speaker TO ME is going to tell exactly what is going on with the recording. In that manner the DeCapos are just superb, they REALLY do that as I am discovering going through recordings that are very familiar. Accuracy and neutrality are tricky words when describing a loudspeaker since ultimately none of them are completely either which is further compounded by the choices preceeding them. Its part of what makes this hobby so challenging and enjoyable, trying to find the pieces and putting them in the system to see what happens. I have been quite surprised at times expecting one thing and getting a result completely unexpected.