Food or beryllium tweeters for my DeCapo's


The question is moot. Like any TRUE Audiophile, the speakers must come first. Food is a luxury that I sometimes cannot afford. I have decided to feed the Reference 3a DeCapo-i's the meal that they so much deserve. The new Beryllium tweeters fresh as summer corn from Divergent Technologies. I first decieded to purchase the DCaps about a month ago. Speakers come and go 'round hear like the wind at my rear. It seems that every time I look up there is a new baffle staring at me. Sometimes not even a baffle. Maybe a tootie looking horn or chrome balls with a metal grill. You get tha picture. I'm an addict. Driven by reviews, a few words from other addicts or a half naked cabinet. Yep, that's me and I'm proud of it. I've made so many mistakes that it is a wonder that my ears haven't packed their cochlears up and walked out the door.
So there I sat about a month ago, armed with nothing more than a Jolida 202brc and wad of cash form the last set of flying baffles. What to do what to do...(?). Just as I was starting to itch all over, you know the feeling, slobbering over pictures of the stuff you cannot afford.. You dream about all the speaker candy here on A'gon and elsewhere; like the audio salons that you have been baned from (the owners harsh words still ringing in your ears.... GET OUT ! YOU CHEAP BAS.... ) I still remember hitting "enter" and there they were. Gloss Cherry DeCapos on wonderful Skylan stands. Were they gone yet ? I trembled as I stumble typed the words out to the owned... Do still you them have ?? Please me let know ASPA. The hours seemed like weeks as my fingers dug into the new leather case for my Ipad. You would know the one. The only APP is the one for A'gon. The hours seemed like weeks .... And then ! The reply.. "Yes, I still have them". As the thousand hot pokers left my body, I replied... I'll boy them. He was close. I drove to pick them up, brought them home with a minimum of speeding tickets and let the little Jolida do its work on them. The thousand or so speakers in my memory banks turned dark and left me alone to absorb the wonders of these little cherry boxes. My mind immediately searched its cells for my best amps. Edge, Rowland, Classe, CJ, ARC, Bel Canto, Kora... The list seems endless, and ALWAYS "that" question..... Tu be or not tu be. Nuts. The speakers are soooo good. What to do?... The answer came in the Heavenly form of an Audio Analogue Maestro Settanta Rev 2 integrated amp. It arrived and pure bliss smacked me between the ears. The only thing missing was perhaps the over the top Beryllium tweeter. There was a little food left in the cabinets. A half a gallon of milk, some cheese and small pudding cups. There was enough money to order the tweets.
As I sit on my porch, smoking my pipe, the words "out for delivery" are on FedEx's tracking page. I just looked in my pocket and found a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. It won't be long now. Should I let you know ?

Moron this later.
Tubeears
tubeears

Showing 6 responses by rebbi

Tubeears and I have been corresponding about some tricks for successfully installing the BE tweeter upgrade for the De Capo. The process isn't terribly tricky but there are a few tricks that'll help. If anyone else wants to benefit from my experience, let me know.

Tubeears, if you think that the De Capo's throw a "cathedral like" sound stage with the old silk dome tweeters, brace yourself for the new BE tweets. They're in another league in that department! :-)
Tubegroover,
I will be very interested to hear your thoughts. As Tubeears said, I have the De Capo with the veneer cabinet and the "acoustic lens" thingie in the main driver. I've been very, very happy with the tweeter upgrade. It's more airy and transparent but not a hint of harshness that I can hear.
I am especially interested because I went from Merlin TSM-mmi's to Dulcets and then De Capo's. Now the VSM goes a lot lower than the TSM, but given the Merlin to Ref 3A journey, I'll be interested to see what you think.
I too did the 3 week trial, btw.
Um, are the BE tweeters really back ordered again? They were when i ordered mine, but it didn't take that long for them to come in. Worth the wait, though!
If you guys want an amazing "goose bump" listening experience, pick up a copy of Sade's latest album, Soldier Of Love, and play track 3, "Morning Bird." I played it for an audiophile friend of mine on the De Capo's (who has some very good speakers at home) and he was stunned. Just sat there saying "wow" and "my speakers won't do that." :-)
By the way, I am experimenting now with switching between the 20 watt "triode" mode and the 40 watt "ultra linear" mode of my Manley Mahi amps. The jury's still out. They sound "different," but I'm not sure which mode I like better.
One other thing I'm noticing about my De Capo's is that I'm listening to a lot of old vinyl these days and enjoying some of my old LP's more than I'd expect. I'm not talking about the cliché "I'm hearing the lead vocalist scratching himself and never noticed that before." Rather, it's that non-audiophile recordings that I used to love sound more musical and pleasurable than I remember them pre-De Capo's.
For example, Michael Franks' "Sleeping Gypsy" has some wonderful tunes on it, but it's a kind of rolled off, closed in sounding recording. And yet I was struck last night by how enjoyable and musical the chorus of "I Hope It's You" sounded. Nice to rediscover old records in this way!