AA capitole mk2 VS. Wadia 861

I had a GNSC moded Wadia and loved it, but have never heard the AA. You might want to call Great Northern Sound Company, as they mod both (or at least used too). They are truthful, and very nice to talk to (and deal with). Give then a ring. They will give you an honest opinion. My take is this. Wadia has great resolution, inner detail, and bass. However, the highs are rolled off just a touch, and if you run it direct, you will loose some dynamics. It is also a tad on the dry side of netural. I liked running it direct, but could see how some would prefer it with a pre-amp. In the end though, I very much liked the player. I felt its inner detail and the way it held an image stable dead center in the midle of your speakers was so good that you could almost ignore any of its faults (Again, I am refering to a modded unit). I hope that helps a little. Feel free to e-mail me directly and we can talk on the phone if you like.

Inpieces the musical presentation tastes your describing would tell you to choose the Wadia 861

After reading all the comments on wadia and AA Cap. II, I wonder why nobody mentionned the Ayre D1-X player. I own one and I´m extremely satisfied - before and after modification. I listened to Wadia 861b in my home system and was very stisfied with the sound, although I choosed the D-1X as it is superior in areas such as musical flow, speed, transparency and sound stage whereas the Wadia wins in the lower frequencies. I don´t know the AA Cap II but I once had the AA Cap. MK I in my system. Very relaxed listening, impressive performance but my modified D-1X blew it away. But at US $ 5k for a used unit I would recommend the AA Cap. II strongly. Can´t comment on the 861 SE or the modified versions. Hope this helps - by the way an extremely good cdp is the Lindemann 820 SACD in Germany regarded by many as the final one box cdp. A friend of mine let his AA Cap MK I go for this machine without thinking twice.
Easy listening, Frank

I owned the AA Cap. II, and now own the APL 3910, which is much more extended, and holgraphic, with much better bass, definition, and soundstage. JMO

Inpieces: judging by the way you like yr music ("passionate"), I thoroughly recommend you try to listen to the following cdp's (one box):
*Lindemann 8?? mentioned above
*Symphonic Line (whichever model EXCEPT the cheapest)

HOWEVER, regarding dynamics, your spkrs' low sensitivity MAY restrict headroom somewhat; you must have a very heavy/lossy xover in the system. To remain on the safe side, you should restrict yourself to ~94-99 db peaks that gives you, roughly speaking, a ~20db headroom (which is excellent). The Thiel tweet is very good (I assume yr using the 12-6) but the midbass (92-6?) could increase distortion @50W.
The sonic preferences you describe sounds a lot like a a very high sensitivity single driver spkr... Cheers