Sonic difference between the CAT JL2 Sig & CAT JL3

Sirspeedy, I never had my Ascents upgraded (I was never aware there was an upgrade). I know that they made the umbilical cord go directly into the speaker cabinet on later models. I liked the fact that I could remove mine and use three short runs of whatever speaker cable I was using at the time. Back to the thread title. I spoke with Ken Stevens again today and asked the question directly about differences between the Cat JL2 Sig and JL3. He said that the bass was better on the all JL3's but that the JL2 Sig beat the JL3 (not the JL3 Sig MK2)in all other areas.
He said that the JL3 Sig MK2 in addition to having better bass was more transparent than the JL2 Sig. So that is his assessment of these two products. I am thinking that I will opt for the JL2 Sig for the following reasons:Less than half the cost, half the heat, half the power consumption. The order I listed the reasons are probably the order of importance. I may change my mind though since I am trying to assemble a system that will last at least a decade. Incremental changes are costlier in the long term.
Patience is a monetary godsend in this hobby. If you can wait for someone with much deeper pockets than yours to get bored with his JL3 Sigs you can have your cake and a paper plate to eat it off! Jafox if you see this post, which JL3's are you using? I think I understand why there are no direct responses to the JL2 Sig vs JL3 question is that the JL2 Sig is a brand new product and I think the JL3 Sig MK2 is also a relatively new release. Bart

Hi Bart - I have the JL-3 Sig but the original (MK I), not the MK II. The JL-3 Sig MK II like the JL-2 Sig has many passive component updates which could lead to major improvements in midrange and treble clarity and resolution.

In a recent upgrade of my Aesthetix Io at GNSC with many capacitor changes, these same improvements were heard in the upper octaves but there was also a significant improvement in the bass. This was the one area that I did not expect to benefit from these changes. So the component changes in the latest round of CAT amp updates might benefit in the same way.

It should be no surprise that the bass (and I would also suspect the dynamic contrasts) would be superior on the JL-3's simply due to their doubling of power tubes. And I believe the power supply in the JL-3 is beefier as well. And then take the same component changes to create the JL-3 Sig Mk II and it is no surprise that this model once again sits atop the product line. But even with all these upgrades, and benefits of the JL-3 over the JL-2, the original JL-2 amp is something I could easily live with and be very happy with forever. It truly is that good in what it does.

Maybe next year I will update my JL-3's as I want to focus on getting my system cables finalized. And then a little more effort into room treatments and component isolation. It may sound so incredible that I will not want to ship the amps off for the upgrade at all. Perhaps a super-duper tonearm upgrade would make more sense. It just never ends.

Face it, John, you'll never be done :-) There's always something. Perhaps the journey is at least as enjoyable as reaching the destination. But I think I'm just about there this time, honest! Dude, ya gotta hear it, it's spooky.

John,who are you kidding!!Once a dedicated(hooked)audiophile "knows" of an upgrade path,there is NO way to rationalize NOT doing it!! -:)
Yet,you already knew this,before posting!!

Best!

Funny guy you are, sirspeedy and Brian too. But you know something guys, I really am close. I am pretty sure that anyone out there with one of the CAT amps has a weaker link in their system than the amp. So there's little need to fuss over moving up to a Signature or Mk II etc. If a CAT amp needs to be sent back to the factory for a repair, then an upgrade could also make sense while the unit is there....otherwise I am very fine to leave my CAT alone.

As for upgrading other components, I am content here too. Look at all the fuss with the digital stuff: EMM, Esoteric, MBL, etc. These guys are spending a fortune for upgrades here. I may be running with a 10 year-old Manley Ref DAC, but what Steve Huntley at GNSC just did to this thing for under $1k is nothing short of a miracle. An update with a ton of coupling caps, a couple of signal-cap value changes in the audio circuit, some line filtering, output stage filtering, chassis damping, etc., this thing can so easily compete again with the $10-20k units out there. Even Steve said when he heard this, "where did you get this thing?" He too was mightily impressed...and equally surprised at the results after his first level of updates. And he has seen and heard all the good stuff come across his bench.

And just last week he did the same with the first pass on my Aesthetix Io. And again, for under $1k. You don't get this kind of component upgrade performance for under $5k when you change to another component.

I feel I have found a handful of products out there now that are incredibly musical. Each of them had some areas that their competition outperformed. But the core of the sound of the products I chose did something very right at the start. And now I have discovered what a master engineer can do to some of these products, by addressing some weak points that were due to cost-cutting measures before. And in 5 years when the next generation of high-performance passive components come along, I will consider this option again. I'm pretty much done with these silly $5-10k component changes. They just don't make sense any more - the recent upgrade experiences have made this very clear to me.

The size and heat and tube costs for the CATs are a pain. The size of the SoundLab speakers are a bit of a pain....and the need to tweak their bias and calibrate their levels when the weather (seasonal) changes. The multitude of chassis for the Aesthetix and all their tubes are a pain. But only when something comes along that matches these components' performance and resolves these issues will I change anything. Yep, I am a very happy camper now. I need to replace my aging Clearaudio linear tonearm and resolve some remaining cable issues and that's it. If only I had a bigger room! Sigh.

John