Due to the very short time available prior to Klaus leaving for Montreal, he has not seen the few pictures I took! He agreed for me to post only a couple showing the front glass and tubes, and I did...I will not post more at this point until he gets the chance to see them all, and decide for himself which ones should be posted...I think is fair to the man!
In a nutshell…
I have heard the Candela (proto) extensively through a pair of Stratos Mono Extremes SE's (of course) driving a pair of B&W 803's (series II) and in one word the synergy with these amps is to die for!! The Candela in my opinion sounds extremely open (wide frequency response) providing a tremendous soundstage. It has all the midrange of tubes (good designs) and more without being overly euphonic, with a more neutral presentation. Bottom end has plenty of punch and definition to the lowest registers, and the highs…oh well…I have never heard the 803’s tweeters sound this good!! Sources included a Sony 9000ES used as a transport/Benchmark DAC combination for CD’s, the 9000ES DSD processing by itself for SACD and of course analog heaven…via a VPI AIRES2/Origin Live arm, Kiseki Blue (VDH rettiped), Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood, Cary and my own phono stages.
As for any options available, Klaus is the man to talk.
Thanks,
Alex