Is CAT a serious audio company?

caesar

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2010
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I think CAT smokes most other tube gear. When people do A/B comparisons in the same system, it's as light as day that CAT is better.

But the impression I get is that the main CAT principal is all about having fun and doing things he wants and is not serious about running a company. You hear stories of waiting for weeks for stuff to be fixed, etc. Does anyone else have that impression? Is this impression incorrect?
 

caesar

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2010
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Ken Stevens is a very serious manufacturer. I had the privilege of hosting him at my house a few years ago. He knows what he's doing

Soundwise, I think he is in the handful of elite, IMHO. But business-wise? Service-wise?
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Caesar-the mere fact that Ken Stevens has been in business as long as he has answers your question. I know you like to start threads with the frequency of Johnny Appleseed planting trees, but come on.
 

DEV

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Oct 19, 2011
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Well there are numerous unhappy owners including myself but in the end I knew of others prior to my purchase but thought they were over exaggerating but found out first hand they weren't.

I purchased a brand new pair of JL3 Sig. MK2 mono's.

Prior to placing my order a date for delivery was promised and confirmed, even though the time frame seemed long I went along with it. I then had to pay 100% prior to the actual order being moved ahead and active.

Well long story short the time frame came and went and took months longer. :mad:

Upon opening them up found scratches and other issues, wasn't very happy seeing that. :(

Had issues biasing one amp, would not hold a bias. One amp almost blew up and thought it had taken along my MBL 101E speakers.

I know everyone else in the home came running wondering what happened.

It was a complete nitemare dealing with the owner, took a year of the amps going back and forth for one reason or another and in the end were left there and then put up for sale and lost money but got rid of a major headache.

Sound was pretty nice but I would not say Smokes most other tube amps as you mentioned in your posting.

The matter fact VAC smokes them, I currently have a pair of the VAC 450 Statement mono blocks and the sonics produced are in a whole different world, never mind fit and finish and reliability. :)

I'm very happy indeed and has finally gotten me of the merry-go-round.

I would never recommend this product to anyone, I am privy of many stories but if you want that info. best to PM.
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
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www.pugetsoundstudios.com
I only have experience with his pre-amps. I've had 2 (Sig. and Ultimate) and haven't had a problem with either. Delivery was on schedule and never needed any service afterward. I did a bit of tube rolling with Kevin Deal though.
 

caesar

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2010
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Caesar-the mere fact that Ken Stevens has been in business as long as he has answers your question. I know you like to start threads with the frequency of Johnny Appleseed planting trees, but come on.

MEP, I'm just not as lucky as you time-wise. But when I come out to play, I like to have fun. My participation is lumpy, while yours is more even, and I'm sure you have more threads than me.

As for Stevens, yes, he makes a great product. I have not heard the VAC stuff that DEV mentions, but I think his gear bests the more mainstream tube companies (ARC, BAT, Cary, CJ, etc.). That's why he is around. And that's why people are willing to put up with stuff like what DEV has experienced.
 

DEV

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Oct 19, 2011
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I think anyone can have an anecdotal story but Ken seems to be a solid citizen

I don't agree. Firstly what happened to me is not a story it's factual and Ken well... The way he conducts business is very poor, his customer service after you have paid thousands of dollars sucks big time. I have been to his place numerous times having to deal with my amps and witnessed first hand things that would make your stomack sick.

Best we leave this alone but please don't make him out being good guy business wise and/or service wise...

I know I couldn't get away with it in my business, I would be out of buisness period.
 

DEV

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Oct 19, 2011
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You would be hard pressed to find many businesses that haven't had at least one experience that could be termed "negative".

Lee

What do you call a company that has endless?
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
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You would be hard pressed to find many businesses that haven't had at least one experience that could be termed "negative".

Lee

Especially with audiophiles ;) They're a different breed :)
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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We all know there are some people whom you can never please. They will find fault with perfection. However, there is a difference between those type of people and people who have real, verifiable complaints. But the bottom line is that if you have been in business for any length of time, chances are real good that you screwed something up that went to a customer if for no other reason than we are human and we all make mistakes. But the odd exception to sending out problem children into the world has to be differentiated from those companies who routinely and continuously exhibit bad behavior through thoughts and deeds. I have no knowledge that Ken Stevens belongs in the latter camp.

I have owned a CAT Sig preamp before and I found Ken Stevens a delight to talk to on the phone and to be very knowledgeable and helpful. That one phone call and owning one of his preamps (that I never had a problem with) is the grand sum of my knowledge about how he runs his business.
 

DEV

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Oct 19, 2011
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We all know there are some people whom you can never please. They will find fault with perfection. However, there is a difference between those type of people and people who have real, verifiable complaints. But the bottom line is that if you have been in business for any length of time, chances are real good that you screwed something up that went to a customer if for no other reason than we are human and we all make mistakes. But the odd exception to sending out problem children into the world has to be differentiated from those companies who routinely and continuously exhibit bad behavior through thoughts and deeds. I have no knowledge that Ken Stevens belongs in the latter camp.

I have owned a CAT Sig preamp before and I found Ken Stevens a delight to talk to on the phone and to be very knowledgeable and helpful. That one phone call and owning one of his preamps (that I never had a problem with) is the grand sum of my knowledge about how he runs his business.

mep you are sounding like Ken with your responce in relation to saying "We all know there are some people whom you can never please. They will find fault with perfection." what a friggen joke!

That's basically what he said to me when I could hear his transformers more than 30 ft away humming along like a floresent light transformer.

Oh ya when I went to his place, his final work station has one of those lights just above humming away. Gotta give him credit though because he voiced my amps just like those noisy tranformers ;)

Never mind when my amps had scratches on them and he suggested they left his place fine, upon arrival with my amps. They have a made cart with carpet placed on top, they use this to transport the amps arround along with working on them. They flip the amp over on it's finished side to do work on the under side, when I was there I writnessed metal shavings in the carpet, dah wonder how my amps got scratched.

I can go on and on
 

andromedaaudio

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Jan 23, 2011
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Ive bought/swapped a ultimate mk 2 pre 7 months ago or so(3 or 4 years old ), and it works perfect , just the line /phono switch sometimes sometimes distorts , meaning in line operation it works flawless ,and in phono you have to adjust it once or twice to operate it without cracks , probably a bad switch .
It made my desire to a zanden pre (expensive/ a bit coloured maybe ?? ) melt away , and i think its one of the best or the best pre ive ever heard
I has the breath of live and is very neutral with tube unlike bass control.
It drives the krells to extacy its that good .
I ll defenitively try the poweramps , but i dont like tubeproblems so if there are other examples of expiriences i ll like to hear them
 

DEV

New Member
Oct 19, 2011
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Ive bought/swapped a ultimate mk 2 pre 7 months ago or so(3 or 4 years old ), and it works perfect , just the line /phono switch sometimes sometimes distorts , meaning in line operation it works flawless ,and in phono you have to adjust it once or twice to operate it without cracks , probably a bad switch .

Sorry but that's contradictory, how can you suggest such. You say above it works perfect but then in the same sentence say sometimes distorts! "probably a bad switch" You left me scratching my head with those comments. In these forums we are supose to assist each other, I find so many have financial interest and won't voice facts, this is the only way to send a message to these manufactures to clean up their act.
 

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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mep you are sounding like Ken with your responce in relation to saying "We all know there are some people whom you can never please. They will find fault with perfection." what a friggen joke!

You need to reread what I said previously. I am not saying you don’t have a legitimate complaint. I am not defending Ken Stevens and saying he runs a *perfect* company. Like I said, there is a difference between people who always find something to complain about versus people who have legitimate complaints. And since you had a pair of amps that you could hear the transformers hum from 30’ away and they had physical damage, I’d say you have a genuine complaint.

I would think however that any company whose products are all physically damaged by the time they leave the production facility and are unreliable to boot would have gone out of business long ago.
 

Robert

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2010
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Oh boy. Caesar really knows how to stir the pot. There's no way this thread can turn out good.

Suffice it to say that once I heard the absolutely unacceptable treatment DEV got, I've crossed CAT off my list forever. For of those who won't believe, his saying "long story short" is the understatement of the year.
 

andromedaaudio

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Jan 23, 2011
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The problem i mentioned is a minor problem , you just have to flip the switch a couple of times in the beginning when playing phono , after that it stays good .
I dont have financial interest in convergent, i just want to give people a good bargain tip.
and remember it was a second hand unit when i bought it
 

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