G'day mates, currently enjoying this wonderful sunny arvo with some great tunes!
Since the CAV45 arrived and has been settling in very nicely over the past few weeks, all I can say is that this thing is absolutely top notch! The depth, soundstage, layering of bass notes, extended highs and glorious midrange are just superb! I never experienced this with my Quads before, even when I had larger amplification with a separate line stage.
Having eliminated the line stage altogether, all it really does is control the output level with zero hindrance, lets more of the music through without any loss/gain whatsoever. It is sounding so wonderful, I have decided to hold on to my Quads for as long as time permits. Compared to the Martin Logan's (in a showroom) or average rooms, the depth is not so apparent compared to the Quads straight off. Careful placement and room interaction plays an important part in getting the depth of soundstage right.
Whereas the Quads have a completely different dispersion pattern. Due to the concentric anode rings, working as a point source, audio signals start from about 30cm from the back instantly adding to that depth, and only expanding with extra room around the panels. I have noticed that once you get this right, it is near perfection to the actual event.
With ML's this placement and room interaction matching can take quite a while to get it right, and most of the ML systems I have heard aren't quite there (other than of course Kostas CLX's, perfect placement and superb depth and layering).
Once the amplifier is matched well, with adequate output to your liking, you will know straight away that this is a very good match. Before, I used to experience bass as a somewhat "drummy" affect, the low end was not well defined. Using KT120's was slightly better but made everything full of bloom, and sounded fuller. Plenty of drive and had a good overall punch. The KT150 took the edges off that bloom and made it slightly more defined, especially in the bass but nothing extra special to be overjoyed.
However, this EL34 design of the CAV45 is simply remarkable. The highs are smooth and well extended, I am hearing finer details that I never thought even existed! The midband from mid highs down to mid bass is superb! The imaging and realism are so natural and uncanny, I actually stood up to shake hands with Kurt Elling last night! And the bass is so well defined, it is tight, well controlled and allows you to experience all the bass lines that ever existed on those tracks.
Last night I was up again till 3am, listened to: Kurt Elling, Cassandra Wilson, Carmen Mcrae, Kenny Burrell, Brian Culbertson, and the classics, such as Ella Fitz and Nat King Cole- absolutely wonderful! On Kurt Elling (Live in Chicago at the Green Mill) the bass strings and drum wacks are so real and live, full of energy but did not over-energise the room to an artificial effect. Kenny Burrell's strings sounded even more lifelike, and the accompanying bass lines were so well balanced, just sheer musicality.
The only level of performance that was higher than this in my experience was the CJ ARTsa (in triode mode) with the ACT2 or GAT. Again this was not a huge improvement in overall performance and absolute sound but rather more in terms of power and finesse. Therefore, for those who don't have elaborate systems, without multiple configs, such as audio and home theatre and extra crossovers, and can do with just three inputs (without linestage gain), I very highly recommend the CAV45- it will play just pure music!
It handles the Quads effortlessly and should be fine on other stats but I am not sure about large ribbons. I feel that larger tube amps (greater than 100w/ch) or ss class A/AB would be far better in driving and controlling ribbon transducers. With the CAV45 there is plenty of headroom and current to handle stats, and the "resolution" reproduced is something to experience. I really don't have anymore words to describe it in any other way, CJ has come up with a superb design with the EL34 at its best!
I have parked the Martin Logan journey for a while, as the Quads sound far more coherent and very real and lively with this new amplifier. I do know that the ML's would be more transparent, with more slam on the bass and can certainly go louder. I am not sure of what margin of improvement it is going to deliver until I actually try it at home with the exact same config. Of course the CLX is a totally different ball game but one that will take me quite a long time to achieve, therefore might as well just sit back and enjoy the music!
On a closing note, if you have a relatively easy load on your speakers, or stats, or quite a reasonable sensitivity rating (87dB or higher rated around the 8ohm mark), and you can live without a line stage/preamp- give the CAV45 an audition, it will outperform all notions that a line stage is required.
Cheers to all and enjoy your music, RJ