Supratek Cabernet vs Aesthetix Callisto Sig?

Oh well, I guess I will chime in and yada yada yada a bit. I own a Callisto Sig and these are really tough to find unless you're willing to buy a new unit. The Cabernet seems to be a little more available here but still not so many on the used market like the ARC Ref2, CAT SL, CJ LS16/17, etc. I suspect your gut feeling of this being a longshot is indeed quite high. Perhaps you can locate A'gon members near you who have one of these to get a chance to hear it in your own system. This is what I have been able to do with 2 local audiophiles; comparing different models on these systems has been of great great value to all three of us.

I own A1s, the Io, Versa 2 and I used to run with the Wolcotts but now CATs, so our systems appear to be very similar. The Callisto Sig is a phenomenol match here so hopefully you can borrow one of these. Good luck.

John

Thanks John! I'm going to email Supratek and ask if he has any customers here in Seattle. I suspect somebody around here has a Callisto Sig as well. I heard the 6 box Aesthetix rig down in San Jose but it was in a completely different system, naturally. Given the price difference the supratek may be a bargain if it is even close to the Callisto in sound.

I love my versa but am planning on re-wiring the arm soon with walker's ultra fine silver tonearm wire to hopefully solve the nightmare of adjusting the stock tonearm wire so as to not drag the headshell/cartridge first one way and then the other as it tracks. Is the 2.0 as bad as the 1.0 in that regards? Or have you re-wired yours? There is still the rubber air hose to worry about but it seems pretty flexible.

Mark

Mem916 - Im near Seattle and use a Supratek Chennin. Im not sure how close the Chennin and Cabernet are in performance though.

Hi Braro,

If you're interested in comparing it to the CAT ultimate in my system let me know. Or I could bring my CAT to your place. It's kind of a pain to get the CAT out of my rack though since the guy didn't put connectors for the umbilical to the power supply (it's hard wired)!

Mark

Mem916, I know of no problems concerning the tonearm wires on the Versa 2. In a few months, I will have my Versa completely overhauled by a long time Versa ownere. I will ask then if there is value to changing the leads. When this is done, I can let you know how it all turns out.

Hey cool, looks like you found a local Supratek owner. Please let us know how the listening sessions work out for you.

John

Sure thing, John. I'll let you know how the Walker Tonearm wire works too in case you run into the same troubles. Oh and I went ahead and bought the Cabernet so we'll be able to do a 3-way comparison. Tentatively planned for next weekend.

So anybody want to bring over a Callisto Sig and do a 4 way? Not next weekend for that though. I have no place to put all the power supplies until my new mapleshade rack arrives. It's coming fedex ground from "back east" so it probably won't be here for the weekend.

Update: Jury is still out. Waiting for some good tubes for the Cabernet. Also needed to get a few hours on it as it wasn't quite broken in.

Did you guys aver get together?