AA Capitole Mk II - what the evaluaions brought?

Artistic,I know what you're describing, the sound was different with a linestage, just not better to my ear. More is not necessarily better, and I don't buy, from my experience, that a linestage is necessary for what it "adds". What it added was a sense of hi-fi, for want of a better term, again great hi-fi, but hi-fi nonetheless. And if hi-fi is the goal, so be it. But the sense of air, space between the notes and instrumental palpability is sacrificed with this "filler", to my ear, stepping ever so slightly away from what live acoustic music sounds like to me. Perhaps in a differently configured system I'd be more enamored, but in my present setup, fully well acknowledging what you're describing, my personal preference is direct, and so far that seems to be the case with most if not all owners I know(that aren't dealers).The pre-amps I tried weren't to shabby- CTC Blowtorch (18K), AR REF II (11K), Klyne series 7 (6K), and a borrowed Cello Pallette. Amps are Tenor 75 WI, speakers Rockport Antares. Perhaps when I get the MKII I'll give a linestage a whirl again. Sutts thanx for your transport and passive pre findings.

yes Mes I see your point. I would say in some systems running direct may be the preferred way to go, but when everything is right (including top interconnects, and power cords) and the system synergy is good, I much prefer an active linestage for what it brings to the sound.

Mes, have you tried using the volume control of your Tenor 75 WI? How does it compare to the AA's?

Jacpiii- Yes, and in fact I preferred that to any linestage I tried, very nice. However, direct sounds better to me for the aforementioned reasons, and a sense of body without sacrificing detail that I prefer. Probably no rights or wrongs here, merely personal preference. But thus far, direct sounds more like real music, the others more hi-fi, although astounding hi-fi nonetheless.

As a dealer, I would like to sell preamps and separates as there is more profit to be made that way. However, not to take away anything from Artistic Audio's findings, in EVERY case when any of my customers have bypassed their preamps, the Audio Aero Capitole excelled even more on it's own. Preamps that were used are as follows:

Atma-sphere MP1
Aesthetix Callisto Signature
Audio Research Ref 2 MK II
BAT VK-50SE
CJ ART 2
CTC Blowtorch
Joule Electra
Lamm L2 Reference
Levinson 32 Reference
Presence Top of the line
Thor

I would say these represent some of the finest preamps in the world. In all cases, the preamps were sold and replaced with just the Audio Aero Capitole. Some of the digital gear that was replaced are as follows:

Accuphase 75
Accuphase SACD player
Audio Research CD3
Audiomeca Enkianthus
Burmester
dCS Elgar / Purcell
Dodson DAC / CEC combo
Goldmund
Levinson 30.6 / 31.5
Marantz SA-1 SACD Player
Sony SCD-1 SACD Player
Wadia (various top of the line models)

Again, all of the aforementioned components represent some of the worlds best and in each case, the Audio Aero unseated them. My customers care about money, but care more about having the best they can find regardless of cost. In 90% of the cases, each customer ended up with better sound and quite a bit of money in their pocket. The savings on interconnects and power cords alone was substantial.

I can also share with you that there are some out there that after hearing the Capitole, have sold there top notch analog systems.

Hard to believe? Let your ears decide.