Asa, good questions. I personally have not heard all the Shindo preamps so its hard to say where the "sweet spot" is in the Shindo lineup. The same is true for a Catherine, if you are able to find one. I can tell you Matt Rotunda at Pitch Perfect Audio is a very good guy and will not lead you astray when it comes to questions such as these and is one of the few, besides Jonathan, who can give you an informed answer. He has definately helped me with my system so I try to buy from him when ever I can.
Shindo advice
I'm looking to upgrade from my long-time pre reference, a Joule LA200/ops-1, and have settled on a Shindo - either a Monbrison or Masseto. My question has to do with a lot of people I see on audiogon moving from the Monbrison to the Masseto, and fairly quickly. The obvious answer would be that they love their Monbrison and just want more. I know one can not go wrong with either, but we all know that there are sweet spots in every designer's line and I'm just wondering if its also because the Masseto is a big jump rather than an incremental one. Just curious.
Would also like to hear some more opinions on differences between Monbrison and Masseto.
Last,any opinions about me digging around for an older Catherine?
To get an idea of who I am, I run an all SET/nos tubed system with a TNT4/Graham/Cardas Heart analog rig. I sold my main speakers and am looking around, using my backup Spendor LS3/5As for now. Past speakers have been Quad US63s and ESP Concert Grands.
Thanks for the help.
Would also like to hear some more opinions on differences between Monbrison and Masseto.
Last,any opinions about me digging around for an older Catherine?
To get an idea of who I am, I run an all SET/nos tubed system with a TNT4/Graham/Cardas Heart analog rig. I sold my main speakers and am looking around, using my backup Spendor LS3/5As for now. Past speakers have been Quad US63s and ESP Concert Grands.
Thanks for the help.