Hello - As a CAT JL-3 owner with a lot of Purist cables in my system, I can share some observations here. And with you being an owner of the Calypso, there will be parallels as I own the Io/Callisto.
I have written much here on cable shootouts and listening sessions, with NBS vs. Kubala-Sosna vs. Purist, etc. And I contributed to the thread on the Aqueous Anniv (AA) cables as well. The AA IC worked pretty good here but the AA speaker cable was just way too colored in the system which uses SoundLab A1 speakers. The Purist Opis spkr cable was a super match (very good value) here with the one AA XLR cable between Io and Callisto and otherwise all-Dominus cabling.
First off - the power cables. A day does not go by on this site without someone posting an opinion in a power cable thread - "if the component had been designed correctly, there would be no need to use a hyped-up expensive power cable". It's pretty hard to take such a person seriously as these amps are at the top of the power amp mountain or darn close when it comes to power supply design. And yet, they benefit greatly from any number of power cables over those in the $100 or less range. And the performance of these amps continues to rise with much more expensive power cables.
The JL-2 like the JL-3's require a robust power cable. These amps draw major amounts of current from the line, especially at power on. Any kind of current limiting with a less-capable power cable will be evident with the need to turn up the bias pot on the amp to achieve the recommended bias value (37). This is also evident when the amp is not on a dedicated line; they really need their own circuit ... and preferably 30A. Cranking up the bias setting to compensate for this does not change the fact that the amps will clearly be performing at much less their capability; dynamic compression will be heard immediately at high levels.
Going from the NBS power cables to the Kubala-Sosna cables made it very clear that more dynamic capability was available with these amps. Whereas power cables in the front-end significantly affected tonality and low-level details, with the amps, the power cable changes always affected dynamic contrasts first and foremost. This is the CAT strength and so it is no surprise such differences are clear with PC changes. And when I tried Purist Dominus PCs here, the dynamic contrasts were even more explosive ... absolutely unbelievable. The Dominus has a way of doing this compared to all other PCs I have tried here, but with the amps this is where the Dominus domination in this regard was very clear.
The tonality of the Dominus PC here also showed the trademark low-end extension and added midrange textures. Never was there any edginess or fatigue with either the Dominus B or Ferox PCs.
Concerning the speaker cables, I stated the Opis was a wonderful match with the rest of the system. Never did it call attention to itself in a subtractive manner like the Venustas often does nor in an additive manner as did the AA. In my system, speaker cables continue to be in third place behind ICs, then PCs, when it comes to making major sonic differences. The AA spkr cable was probably the biggest spkr cable difference I have ever heard in my system and it was not a good fit.
I did also try an older pair of SilverAudio Symphony48 spkr cables and they worked quite well. They lack the clarity of the Opis by quite a margin, but their tonality was surprisingly good with no brightness nor fatigue.
And finally ICs - I used a 25' MIT 350 EVO RCA from the Callisto to the CATs for 8-10 months before I ultimately switched to a 30' Dominus fluid RCA. The MIT worked mighty well here except it had somewhat of a polite and lean midrange and not the extension in the bass. But there was never any fatigue or brightness to this cable whatsoever as it was more subtractive in nature. When I had a chance to hear the Kubala-Sosna Emotion 30' RCA here, this had refinements all over the place to the MIT....especially more tonally coherent and resolving. But the MIT was a pretty good cable in how it captures the dimensionality in the music. So much for the theory that a networked cable will not work well with the CAT!
The Dominus IC over the K-S Emotion here was a trade-off of strengths - ultimate tonal coherency and black background of the KS vs. that Dominus low-end and dynamic punch as well as the midrange textures once again.
The CAT amps as well as the Aesthetix preamp work incredibly well with the Purist cables coming in and going out. If the Dominus is a bit over your budget, mixing and matching the AA, Venustas and Opis might just be the ticket.
John
I have written much here on cable shootouts and listening sessions, with NBS vs. Kubala-Sosna vs. Purist, etc. And I contributed to the thread on the Aqueous Anniv (AA) cables as well. The AA IC worked pretty good here but the AA speaker cable was just way too colored in the system which uses SoundLab A1 speakers. The Purist Opis spkr cable was a super match (very good value) here with the one AA XLR cable between Io and Callisto and otherwise all-Dominus cabling.
First off - the power cables. A day does not go by on this site without someone posting an opinion in a power cable thread - "if the component had been designed correctly, there would be no need to use a hyped-up expensive power cable". It's pretty hard to take such a person seriously as these amps are at the top of the power amp mountain or darn close when it comes to power supply design. And yet, they benefit greatly from any number of power cables over those in the $100 or less range. And the performance of these amps continues to rise with much more expensive power cables.
The JL-2 like the JL-3's require a robust power cable. These amps draw major amounts of current from the line, especially at power on. Any kind of current limiting with a less-capable power cable will be evident with the need to turn up the bias pot on the amp to achieve the recommended bias value (37). This is also evident when the amp is not on a dedicated line; they really need their own circuit ... and preferably 30A. Cranking up the bias setting to compensate for this does not change the fact that the amps will clearly be performing at much less their capability; dynamic compression will be heard immediately at high levels.
Going from the NBS power cables to the Kubala-Sosna cables made it very clear that more dynamic capability was available with these amps. Whereas power cables in the front-end significantly affected tonality and low-level details, with the amps, the power cable changes always affected dynamic contrasts first and foremost. This is the CAT strength and so it is no surprise such differences are clear with PC changes. And when I tried Purist Dominus PCs here, the dynamic contrasts were even more explosive ... absolutely unbelievable. The Dominus has a way of doing this compared to all other PCs I have tried here, but with the amps this is where the Dominus domination in this regard was very clear.
The tonality of the Dominus PC here also showed the trademark low-end extension and added midrange textures. Never was there any edginess or fatigue with either the Dominus B or Ferox PCs.
Concerning the speaker cables, I stated the Opis was a wonderful match with the rest of the system. Never did it call attention to itself in a subtractive manner like the Venustas often does nor in an additive manner as did the AA. In my system, speaker cables continue to be in third place behind ICs, then PCs, when it comes to making major sonic differences. The AA spkr cable was probably the biggest spkr cable difference I have ever heard in my system and it was not a good fit.
I did also try an older pair of SilverAudio Symphony48 spkr cables and they worked quite well. They lack the clarity of the Opis by quite a margin, but their tonality was surprisingly good with no brightness nor fatigue.
And finally ICs - I used a 25' MIT 350 EVO RCA from the Callisto to the CATs for 8-10 months before I ultimately switched to a 30' Dominus fluid RCA. The MIT worked mighty well here except it had somewhat of a polite and lean midrange and not the extension in the bass. But there was never any fatigue or brightness to this cable whatsoever as it was more subtractive in nature. When I had a chance to hear the Kubala-Sosna Emotion 30' RCA here, this had refinements all over the place to the MIT....especially more tonally coherent and resolving. But the MIT was a pretty good cable in how it captures the dimensionality in the music. So much for the theory that a networked cable will not work well with the CAT!
The Dominus IC over the K-S Emotion here was a trade-off of strengths - ultimate tonal coherency and black background of the KS vs. that Dominus low-end and dynamic punch as well as the midrange textures once again.
The CAT amps as well as the Aesthetix preamp work incredibly well with the Purist cables coming in and going out. If the Dominus is a bit over your budget, mixing and matching the AA, Venustas and Opis might just be the ticket.
John