Nagra plp versus CAT ultimate mk 2

The best tonal colours (what an expression) i heard was from zanden , but a zandenpre /phono system is a bit to expensive and hard to find second hand .
There are no joule electra imports here , i never heard it .
Thanks for the input !
So the cat is also very neutral a good thing off course .
The nagra is a bit on the polite side .

It looks like its a deal , ill be having a 2008 CAT ultimate mk 2 this week probably, ill post pics and comments

It has arrived , its not a legend , although it has the legend frontpanel ,ser no. 10307.
I added pics , i ll review it later

Well here is a quick first impression .
Tonal balance is very much the same as it should be with neutral products , the nagra is kind of thin on the bottom compared to the cat .
The cat is much heavier/mightier on the lower freq .
Down side of the cat is that it produces record rumble during playback .
The woofer makes uncontrolled movements when the needle is on the record , although i dont hair them ,i dont like the sight of it, for the rest the phonostage is very good .
Both are very good preamps where the nagra is a bit lean glassy sounding the cat is more solid/ rounded/slightly tubey sounding .

The cat is more relaxing sounding is my impression , the cat is very quit on the line stage , with a bit noise on the phonostage , maybe a little bit more as the plp

No i just have it playing , and the imbuscrews are english so i have to take the right tools to open it from work.
You think its a broken tube ?
What is the phono section of the cat? inside left rightside ?

i ll have them checked later on .

the one thing i can say after listening to my favourite lp collection and the thing being under current for half a day now .
The cat is very good , it doesnt have the glassy/edginess of the nagra instead its al about natural , musical flow , you can definetively hear deeper into the mix and the bandwith is greater /more bas extension .
I think it was a good exchangetrade

Thanks bombaywalla, pubul57 for the info .
I might indeed have them tested cq buy new.

Another impression .
After a couple of dvds with which i am familiar.
The cat is a much better line stage , i have the impression its much quiter with blacker backgrounds .
It has that triode? magic , the sound is floating in a crystal clear soundbubble bigger than the nagra , i would not call it a deeper soundstage projection but simple a bigger soundfield .
Images and sounds have real magic to them although very precise and controlled , makes me want to try their poweramps someday.
A real highend product capable of giving something extra

Thanks jfrech.

I must mention that my plp was a secondhand one and had been serviced in the meantime with new tubes and adjusted , although at a respectably high end repair company .
You are right sometimes the factor "change does matter" kicks in.
First off all things are always system dependable off course , i reckon the cat will smooth out ceramic materials i dont know why.
fact is and i will probably stand by that , the cat "does" something with the sound , i think its definetively worth a try , and not that expensive.

Game changing pre amp .

I started listening to cds s as well and find them quite involving , unbelievebale i never thought it could happen .
It changed my opinion about ceramic materials as well , ceramic drivers dont have a hint of hardness anymore not even the tweeters .
It not only controls and reproduces sound it makes it come alive again, the sound is full of control and nuances and more detail .
I think i m gonna buy a legend and a jl2 or 3 and call it a day , although i like to have big transistors hanging around , the legend pre will be in the system anyway , at some time .
A 6550 tube amp with power and triode sound , i cant wait .

My second system will be ML 32 /33