Great thread and thought I'd chime in. I recently bought a Cat Legend Black Path with a pair of JL7's and have about 150 hours on them. All I listen to is vinyl and really appreciate the fantastic built in phono stage in the Legend. These were purchased for a second system that I'm going to set up in a dedicated room being built now. (thanks to Ron and Steve for your great descriptions of room construction! I read every word in those threads and implemented many of the ideas and techniques you so generously described)
It was tough to choose speakers and impossible to compare the sound of different systems because of all the variables involved. I traveled to private homes and dealers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Florida, and attended several shows to pick out gear. When I heard the Cat gear at Axpona 2016 with the Martens and the Magicos, that was it for the electronics. I bought the Cat gear on the spot. For now I've settled on a pair of Vivid Giya G1's that should be here in about a month, almost the exact time my room will be finished. I picked the Giya's because I've primarily listened to planar speakers and they just sounded so coherent, fast, and natural that they reminded me of planars; but with a ton of gorgeous bass! We'll see when they get here, and I'll report back. I'd like to try dynamic speakers for something different, and if the Giya's don't do it for me, I'll try something else; or get a pair of 20.7i's or Sound Labs. In the mean time I've been pairing the Cat gear with Maggie 3.7i's. And to me....... its a match made in heaven! Here is how I described it in another post on a different forum:
"Maggie's with CAT gear...... Starting today I have a box of Kleenex next to my listening seat.
As I mentioned I've got a pair of Maggie 3.7i's with Mye stands, meticulously set up and have used some really great gear with outstanding results. Preamps have been Gat1, Gat2, Triode TRX2, Modwright (all upgrades). Amps have been Carver 305's (a little tube rolling), CJ Premier 8's (kt120/teflon upgrades), and Nuprime R20's; all over 300 watts per channel. Every combination has sounded great and the Gat2 is a tremendous sounding piece of gear. My favorite combination is the Gat2 with the Carvers. I've also got a pair of REL G2 subs right behind the Maggies that I've obsessively dialed in at a cross over of between 37-39 Hz and a volume setting of between 7-10 depending on the gear upstream.
However; I was so blown away by the Cat gear at Axpona that I ordered a brand new Cat Legend preamp with an amazing phono section and a pair of Cat JL7's with KT150's. They arrived last week and I immediately put them in my Maggie system. They have now had a little time to settle in with about 100 hours of play time. I bought the Cats for a second system I'm building in a new dedicated listening room over a 2 car garage that's being constructed as we speak. That new room should be ready in a few weeks, but in the mean time I'm running the Cat gear with the 3.7i's. One more point to consider is that I'm a vinyl guy, and very obsessive about dialing in my TT. The cartridge I'm using in a VPI Classic 3 with 3D arm is a Koetsu Blue Lace Platinum (Koetsu folks will get this). That might seem like overkill for a $6k pair of speakers but who cares!
I'm careful about using exaggerated explicative type words and will try my best to keep these comments in relatively rational terms. But holy ****! My complete emotional melt down happened last night while listening to the most unsuspecting piece of music I could imagine. That being some rock and roll from Dave Mason's masterful debut solo album "Alone Together". Specifically the last cut on side #2; "Look at You Look at Me". The kick drum felt like it was pounding me in the chest, there was a wall of music several feet on either side of each speaker, and then at 1 point Dave shouts out a big Whoooo! That came from some distant back left corner of the soundstage and I literally jumped in my seat. Finally that amazing guitar solo at the end just ripped my heart out and I sat there emotionally drained, sobbing like a baby.
All I can say is now what? Its hard to imagine separating the Cat gear from the Maggies. Its an absolute heavenly combination even compared to the premium gear I've been using! But the Cat gear was earmarked for a completely different system, just waiting to be assembled in a dedicated listening room. I may have to cash out my retirement account, sell all my cars, or even rob a bank, but I might just have to go for a pair of Cat Statement amps and another Legend preamp to build that second system. Tough problem when we have to deal with such dilemmas I suppose!
But to get back to the matter at hand; from my experience, a well set up pair of Maggies, driven with enough power and current, will be exactly as good as the quality of the signal they receive. And with a Koetsu Blue Lace Platinu and the new Cat gear, I think I'm gonna have to order an entire case of kleenex........ "
