If you think you love vinyl and are not afraid of spending the money, go for what you want. (I have no opinion on the Coincident phono stage except to relate that a buddy of mine sold his Dolshi Alaap in favor of the Coincident, for whatever that's worth.) If you knowingly compromise on the phono stage, you are only setting yourself up for losing money when eventually you do sell the EAR 834P (or whatever else you might buy as a compromise choice) in order to finally get what you really seem to want. Life is short.
As Banquo implied, do be prepared to upgrade everything else, so as to get the most out of the Coincident, as time goes by |
I would ask Israel Blume, does his phono stage have a true "linestage" built in, or do the aux inputs simply interpose the volume control between the CDP or other high level source and the amplifier. There is an important difference, if the linestage function is crucial to you. |
Sorry for being pedantic, but "passive" and "no gain" can mean two different things. But it's probably truly passive, just a volume control, which means one must take care about matching impedances. |
Sorry, Charles. I was not thinking about the match between the phono stage and the amplifier. I was thinking about the impedance match between an outboard high level source, such as a CDP, and the volume control. With a minimum of thought and information about the input impedance of the control, there probably would not be a problem, however. |
Most CDPs without a volume control will need some form of external attenuation, be it the passive control on something like the Statement or a stand-alone passive attenuator, or an active control on a conventional linestage.
They typically output 2V of signal. 0.5 to 1V is enough to drive most amplifiers to full output. |
Those are two superb choices and it would simply be a matter of one's opinion. But it would be best to form an opinion after prolonged audition in one's own system. Nothing else counts. |
I kind of like an active linestage, myself.
I think the OP has one, but I am not sure it is up to the level of excellence of the Statement. |
I have refrained from commenting on the cost, but let's keep in mind that Coincident sells direct, not through dealers. Therefore, Coincident can sell any of its products for any price that Israel Blume deems to be acceptable, regardless of the "list price". Thus, it is not a given that this opportunity to buy at a large discount is "once in a lifetime", if the OP wants to wait to make a decision. In other words, I would not encourage the OP to make this purchase solely because of the discount. |
Charles, I don't disagree with the "go for it" philosophy. I only advocate careful decision-making, and THEN go for it. |
Hey Al, Doesn't the Coincident have a built-in SUT, and is there not the possibility to bypass the SUT, if you have an MM? I guess not, based on what you wrote. I am quite surprised. |
Ummm... I think you did the right thing, but let's wait until you actually hear what the unit actually sounds like as a phono stage, before we go all orgasmic. If you are listening to the "linestage", isn't that only essentially a passive volume control? (I can't remember for sure, but I think there is no active linestage built in; it just acts as an attenuator.) |
