Coincident Linestage vs CJ CT5 or Allnic L-3000

Charles1dad & Bfr

Charles I agree with your comments re. quality of electronic parts and finish. A friend of mine who's much more knowledgeable than me had a peek inside the linestage and found the design brilliant, well executed and rugged. All in all, I am amazed that Coincident is able to manufacture a component of such outstanding performance in that price range. I agree with Bfr that cosmetics should be flawless, but I would never let the minor flaws that I noticed stop me from buying it again though.

I forgot to mention that right out of the box the Coincident was already clearly better than the Allnic and the CT5. Once it will be broken in I anticipate that the performance gap will even widen. So I agree with your Charles1dad, I think that I will just love it more and more!

Obrennan,
Yes ,overall perspective is the point I was trying to illustrate.I thought Brf was making a bit too much(IMO) about very minor exterior cosmetics(but I know his intentions are good).The Coincident is better built than my former ARC and Quicksilver preamps(and they were very solidly constructed).The big seperation gap is undoubtedly internal parts and layout, your friend`s observation is on the money.You want better near perfect exterior finish, there`s Absolare Passion,Zanden and Robert Koda etc.In terms of pure natural sound realism and getting to the core soul of music the CSL is a very upper tier product.The good news is the price is within reach of many music loving audiophiles. Obrennan, there`s a lot of iron(transformers and chokes) to burn-in with additional hours, you`re in for treat.Those 101D DHT tubes make for wonderful music reproduction.
Regards,

Brf,
You and I are happy owners of Coincident speakers.This is where Israel Blume made a name for himself and earned his well deserved reputation.His Pure Reference Extreme speaker has gotten rave reviews universally.Some say at 27,000 dollars they`re an absolute bargain.However consider this,his all out effort in his latest Mark II electronics are 'much more affordable' and are said to be world class by a variety of reviewers. The cost of his preamps and and both power amplifiers are far less than his top speakers.This is the viewpoint I`m trying to get across, very reasonable value for the high performance one gets from the electronic components.

When I decided to go the SET route it was narrowed down to Coincident and the Wavelength Cardinal 300b. The reviews of the Frankenstein were so positive(nearly over the top I thought) and they were less money(by a noticeable margin at that time). I know I would have been very happy with the excellent Wavelength but there`s been no looking back with the Frankenstein MK II,the reviews got it right.
Regards,

It’s curious that the line stage Coincident offers is balanced throughout but their amp’s only have single ended inputs.

Browsnfan, have you finally a move to buy the CSL. If not, keep us posted. I'll be curious to hear about your own experience. On my side I am still as excited as I was on the first day!