Building the Audio Note Kit 1 SET amp...

Excellent news Rebbi! Give it a good burn in and let us know.

Charles and Rebbi, I love the triumph extreme IIs driven by the 300b Frankensteins. They are very different speakers than the deCapos. Rebbi loves his deCapos. The coincident speakers may not be to his liking. I think buying used or with an in home addition is the way to go.

Rebbi, The coincidents have coherency that is just uncanny. For all the world this sounds like a single driver. Superb transparency and air, and if everything else is right, they image like champs. Accuracy of timber is as good as I have heard. This is a very refined speaker. Dead neutral. While they begin to tail off at 45 Hz, they have useful and tuneful response down below 35. Very fast speakers, including the lower frequency. They actually better the nice tight mid base that Magnepan speakers are famous for. I have chosen to augment the low frequencies with a couple of rel subs. I'm adding just a wee bit of low frequency, so as not to create an issue with coherence. This seams to warm things up just a bit. To my way of thinking, as a speaker in my primary system, this is a much better speaker than the deCapos. BUT-- while the deCapos aren't neutral, they are very seductive. I can run these without subs in my secondary system and not feel the loss because of the warm tonality. I'm using these in a system that is all about old style fat tubiness. I will use the deCapos in my new great room, which has hardwoods and is really lively. The Coincidents stay in my new music room which is carpeted. The coincidents are too much of a good thing in my great room with the live acoustic. That room requires the warmth of the deCapos. I do find my little dynamo amp is mating well with the deCapos, provided you are not going super loud. I am achieving exactly the romantic, fat, tubey sound I was hoping for in my secondary system. You love your deCapos, and that concerns me. You may well miss that sound when you go to another speaker.

Rebbi, Yes, my deCapos have the Be tweeters and are nextel. BTW, I have had an opportunity to carefully audition the 26K Coincident PREs. Certainly, the PREs have that low frequency foundation you can't expect in a monitor like the TEIIs. And, the PREs have more air. Attack and decay is quite special. But, it just amazes me how much Israel accomplished with the TEIIs. I have said this before. No 4K speaker has any business being as good as the TEIIs. But, I'm still not getting rid of my deCapos!

Mikirob, like you, I also detected some mission drift occurring. That is the nature of audiophiles. This is what I want, wow, this is great, now how do I make it better? Rebbi is doing what we all do when we make that first step from midfi to the good stuff. God bless him and keep him. I have felt your your pain, Rebbi!

This is exactly why I backed off from the "mission" for a while. There is no perfect system at any price. We all have to come to terms with what we value most, and what we are willing to do without. That period of introspection is mandatory for Rebbi at this point, I think.

Rebbi, congratulations! You ran the definitive experiment. Once you get things sorted out, I do hope you are able to make things work with the deCapos. Back at the beginning of this adventure, I evaluated the deCapos driven by my Coincident Frankenstein 300b amps. I found one could go pretty loud without issues. As Charles indicates, my dynamo also does pretty well. At this point, the dynamo driven deCapos are getting as much playing time as my main system. I've got a nice tube complement in the dynamo now. I continue to subscribe to the original premise regarding the deCapos and SETs. "You haven't heard the deCapos until---"

Erndog, Agree! It is almost to the point of fine literature, at this point. Still not sure if it is a tragedy or a comedy (in the classical sense.) As for me, I'm sensing some unexpected turns leading to a happy ending.

Excellent news Rebbi!
Mikirob, I am looking forward to more detail on the M Lore (that just sounds too much like Data's evil twin) vs DeCappo evaluation. I find it kind of funny with the DeCappos. They can deliver the goods reasonably well with transients, like tympani, but they do seem to struggle a bit with walking bass on baroque music. Just seems a little soft and lacking definition.

Rob,thanks. The dynamo/decapo pair has much to like, but I think walking bass presents a challenge. When I get everything reunited in my new home I will reevaluate this with the decapos drive by the Frankensteins.

Rebbi, if there is a Nobel prize for patience, you are a slam dunk. I am so happy this finally got resolved. We will all be wanting to hear how the burn in goes, and also if you find the amp to be up to driving the deCapos.