Coincident Linestage vs CJ CT5 or Allnic L-3000

Charles, I asked him about the 10 and 20dB gain options. His answer was pretty much along the lines of "the current CSL has 14 dB of gain. That should put you in the 10 to 2 o'clock area for most of your listening." He appears to have been correct in his prediction, although I think it will tend toward the 10-12 o'clock area.

I think if you were trying to drive his 97 dB efficient speakers with the 20 gain CSL you could have some issues. I don't know if he would have offered a lower gain option if I had pressed the issue. He seemed quite confident the stock unit would work. I would have been concerned about higher gain though. After all, I was using a unity gain passive, and that not ever wide open.

BTW, when I went to bed last night the brightness had passed (~ 5 hrs). After playing at low levels all night and all day, not only is the brightness gone but the lean tonal balance is warming. I just love what i am hearing.

Brownsfan,
14 db sounds like the right amount of gain for your system's needs.90% of my listening is with the VC set at 11to 1 oclock.Your fun and pleasure with the CSL is in the early stage.Wait until it blossoms, you'll be besides yourself with sheer happiness and admiration. It's really a life long possession piece. Israel is very talented.
Regards,

Thanks for the update Brownsfan. I agree with Charlesdad comments: your CSL will continue to improve as you use it. Mine has been used for about 300 hours and I can see a significant difference. It sound even more natural, musical than before. Believe me, what you're experiencing is just the beginning of the love story! Personally I now consider it the heart of my system!

Brownsfan,
You were a longtime advocate for passive units and very happy with their performance. With the active CSL in your system has there been any period of adjustment? How is the music presentation altered? How is dynamic contrast,tone and timbre different if at all?
Regards,

Charles1dad, I have a good 100 hours on the CSL now. Much to my relief, at this point there has been absolutely no aberration in tone or timbre and the the CSL is just dead silent. Dynamics, as expected, is much improved, but not at all in an unnatural sense. I have heard many actives that had all kinds of dynamics--sounded quite impressive if you had no live acoustic music frame of reference. But for me they sounded like hi-fi, not music.

Not long ago, I started a thread asking for recommendations on putting together a system specifically for listening the chamber music. Before introduction of the CSL, it was normally difficult if not impossible to discern in space the location of the 1st and 2nd violins. The CSL just nails it! Image, especially depth of image, is really impressive. Looks like it wasn't the Maggies, it was the Promitheus. It was a good thread with a lot of great suggestions, but now, I don't know if that project is really necessary. Might still be fun, but maybe not really necessary.

There is no downside at all as far as I am concerned with the CSL.

I think the passive vs active debate is still relevant below a certain price point. With the CSL, we are beyond that price point.