woodsman Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Just want to take a little time and write my impression of the new pCats. Now remember folks, I am no audiophile. I know good music and good sound when I hear it. I do know the differance in good gear and great gear. I went form a SS LFD Mistral integrated amp. With Lascalas and a Jolida JD100 cd player. It was very good sounding, but I knew I wanted to try tubes. So out went the Mistral and in came the Baldwin and a JM Merlin. Well that went to another level of smooth and fulness that I never knew before. I had never had a tube amp prior to the Baldwin. Listened to many out in the higher end audio stores in the area though. One being Audio Research which many drool over, but not too close, might fry a tube. Onto the pCats now. If one word could sum them up, I would go with AMAZING. I listened for about 4hrs on Sun afternoon. Playing most of my favorites that I wanted to hear. I was in awe on what I was hearing. I have heard many say they heard notes they never heard before. Now I know what they are talking about. There was so much more detail. Talk about smooth, I never even felt close to any listener fatigue. Notes seem to hang in the air a whole lot longer now. My wife , who would be fine with a boom box had the comment. This sounds really good, it's like they are in the room here. All I could do was smile at that comment. She kept coming back and sitting down saying that really sounded good. Here is a few songs that I will try and describe how they sound with the new and improved system. Animusic- aqua harp. I have listened to this quite a few times in out home theater. Keep in mind that there is some very good gear down there and it's all set up in 7.1. So I am used to hearing a lot of information coming out of this particular song. There are part's throughout the song that you can hear water flowing. I am used to hearing at the beginning, some in the middle and then at the end. Well I could hear it all throughout the song now. Now I wiil have to go back downstairs and try and listen for it again. Most of the time I am not sitting in the sweet spot down there. I will next time. Another song is a Mannheim Steamroller off of their Romantic Melodies cd. Not sure of the name of the song but it is the 3rd track. It's an acoustic piece with some guitar, flutes and violins. There is a lot of nature sounds in it as well, especially birds. I was sitting back listening back listening to this, and it was as if I were in Ireland. Sitting on a hillside as if some locals were playing a tune and nature was just happening as it does. You can hear some wind and water throughout the song. The birds were as if they were sitting next to you. My cat was looking around trying to find the bird's in the room. It was very close to a full surround sound experience. Hard to believe that it was only 2 channel listening. One last song for the review. I could go on for awhile, but I type for crap, this is a stretch. Steve Vai off of Mystery tracks. Last song on it called Gone. Steve playing acoustic guitar and his sister Lili is singing. I wanted to get up and hug them before they left the room. It was just unbelievable how beautiful that sounded. You could hear Steves hand slide along the neck of the guitar. I have listened to this song on many high end systems, it is one of my reference songs. That is the best to date. I am so happy that I had the faith that Mark would build something special. HE DID. I am not looking to change anything for a long time. I really do not believe that it will get any better than this is right now. If it can, I am sure you would have to spend thousands more to do it. For me and my tastes, I could not be any happier with my system. I am content to just be done, looking or tweaking, or even trying out the new brilliant pebbles. Mark, you did an awesome job with these. Sound wise and build quality. You are barking with the big dogs now. I would like to do an amp shootout with these and some Audio Research. Keep up the good work. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsman Posted April 10, 2007 Author Share Posted April 10, 2007 I know, sorry no pics. They look like the other ones you have seen, only with a lower serial number. I never did check Mark. Do I have 0001 and 0002 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshnich Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 I agree with all that you have said. To me the vocals are so realistic that they are spooky! As I said before, I am actually hearing personality in the vocals - something that I have never encountered other than in a live performance. All veils are removed and the sound is as pure as can be. INCREDIBLE!!! Josh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Wow.... Woodsman, I forgot... what speakers did you listen with? Can you state about how loud these were or have you pushed them a bit yet? Or have any idea about spls, etc? I wish someone would haul a pair of these to KlipschFest. I've never heard a SET type. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsman Posted April 10, 2007 Author Share Posted April 10, 2007 Lisa, I have LaScalas. I am a rocker, so I listen at a louder level. Nothing too crazy in the house, but my workshop that is another story. The audition was at a fairly loud level, little higher than I would normally. I did not push it to a concert level, gotta wait until the wife is not around to do that. It never distorted. Bring those vrd's on up and we will do a comparison. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meagain Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Jeff - I think perhaps I'm confused about the pCAT.... Is it a SET or no? I thought it was. Am I wrong? I may take you up on that some day! That would be interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BS Button Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Hey Jeff, It's good to hear your even more satisfied. I wished I could hear my new Clear Lacquered Birch (La Scala's) in corners. Do you have any comments on corner placement? BS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsman Posted April 10, 2007 Author Share Posted April 10, 2007 Hey Todd, nice to hear from you again. I think they need more cowbell. I find that having the lascalas in corners helps with the bass, being somewhat shy anyway. With the pcats the bass is just right for me. In fact I was enjoying that bass slam listening to some Aryeon on Sunday. That midrange is just wow. I move my chair into the sweet spot and escape. I found that with putting them into the corners it was easier to locate an ideal sweetspot. Anytime your going to be in the area, you are always welcome to stop by. Your old mates (speakes) would like to see you again. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted April 10, 2007 Share Posted April 10, 2007 Jeff, Thanks for the review and congrats on the pCATS. I might have missed it, but what kind of speakers are you listening with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodsman Posted April 10, 2007 Author Share Posted April 10, 2007 LaScalas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klipsch4life Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 Has anyone done any comparison between the pCat or VRD's and some of the vintage McIntosh amps (using a Juicy Music pre for all the above and all other components being equal) ? Just curious about the differences. KG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted April 11, 2007 Share Posted April 11, 2007 Has anyone done any comparison between the pCat or VRD's and some of the vintage McIntosh amps (using a Juicy Music pre for all the above and all other components being equal) ? Just curious about the differences. KG Try this post it has Pcats, VRDs, Moondogs, Mac amps and a few I forgot to mention with a JM preamp. http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/thread/897274.aspx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted April 12, 2007 Share Posted April 12, 2007 I just got my pCATs and Mark wasn't joking THEY ARE HEAVY! Hopefully, this weekend I'll be able to spend some time with them to figure them out, but preliminary indications are that they don't match well with either my dynes or CDP. Not suprising as the Dynes require ALOT of power, so i'll switch back the the Ref3s and get some good comparisons. Cheers... -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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