Valin loves AR. I can't say whether Valin has any ulterior motives but my impressions of CAT align with his. That is not to say it's not great stuff - I own and love my CAT JL7s and have yet to hear a better amp in my system, but it is a little dark sounding to my ears (as opposed to open and airy).
Ian, I am not quite sure what you mean. When I recently heard your system again, I found your CAT JL7 amps (and the CAT preamp) very open and airy sounding, and not dark at all; sound overall was fantastic. The CAT phono stage did sound dark and closed-in, and perhaps Davey has a point -- something may not be quite right with it. It's out of character with the rest.