[davehg]

Well, I was in NYC on business and finally found time to sit and listen to the De Capo's. I really wanted to be blown away, since I am really excited about getting into low powered SET amps (got my eye on the Air Tight ATM 300) and wanted something sensitive enough.

NYC's "In Living Stereo" had them set up with a SET amp of about 20 watts, Analysis Plus cables, and some nice CD whose name I cannot remember.  When I arrived, they were testing a pair of AirTight ATM211 mono's, so I was excited to pair the two together, but they were not ready and so I heard them on the other SET amp (methinks ART audio?).

I did notice immediately the level of detail and presence. Nice. But the sound was very siblant, too much treble energy (too bright for my tastes). Staff claimed the DC's were well broken in, and blamed the brightness on the fact that the amps were not fully warmed up and that the cables may not be quite the right match. Hmmm.

My experience with tube amps is that brightness is not a characteristic of a less-than warmed up tube amp (except for ARC amps). I do believe the Analysis plus cables were not the warmest I have heard, but am I being premature in my assessment?

I went back to Seattle proper the next day, and powered up my VAC Avatar/Merlin TSM/Acoustic Zen cable setup, and while it lacked the treble detail of the DC's, it was sure more listenable to my ears.

What say you, DC owners? Bruce G, I may still take you up on your listening offer, maybe my NYC experience was not how they sound in a properly set up system.

[wongstein]

Dave, I'm not a De Capo owner, but I'm an audiophile and a good friend of Chris Younkman, our gracious moderator here, so I happen to listen to his De Capos all the time while I'm at his place sipping his esspresso, enjoying his single-malt whiskey, eating his organic cookies, perusing his extensive collection of TAS and oggling his beautiful wife.  We swap a lot of equipment as well (but that's as far as it goes).  So I have a good idea of how the De Capos sound and what drives them well.

The De Capos do have a tendancy to reveal any brightness or harshness in components very easily, they're very revealing like that, but I wouldn't say that they're bright in themselves at all.  There is a slight, slight glare or something in the 2Kz range that I only notice when Chris complains about it, but we're told that the tweeter upgrade solves this.  As a matter of fact, we are waiting for a pair that are scheduled to arrive at Chris's house the day before yesterday.  As an aside, the Van Den Hul D-102 interconnect is a great one that attenuates the top of the treble a bit in the event of some harshness that you're waiting to be rid of.

There are some significant factors in why the De Capos might sound bright to the unaccustomed, and they have everything to do with the lesser amounts of bass, and particularily the way that it rolls off.  Without a crossover to speak of, the De Capos roll off the bottom end pretty smoothly, *maybe* even losing a little ground as high as 60Hz (very much depending on your amp, apparently) and slowly descend down to audible, but not punchy bass in the mid 40s, at which point they seem to fall off completely.  Herein lies the rub: many small speakers of similar size these days have a "bump" in the frequency response designed into the crossover around 50 or 60Hz that you get used to.  Add to all this the fact that your average stereo store showroom is big, oddly shaped and has a dozen pairs of speakers scattered around the walls destroying your bass reinforcement, and then you have a system that lacks a lot of bass, and sounds tipped up.

Does that sound sound like it could be the case to you?  Then the DCs definitely deserve a second audition.  If you have a small or medium sized room, the De Capos make plenty of bass with the right amp (that you are not interested in), but I've heard some very nice, neutral sound with tubes and De Capos - not bright at all, but very clean and dynamic in the top end.

[Ron D]

Wongstein - given your description of how your sense are bombarded at Chris' house can you honestly advise you have actually concentrated on what you heard from the DCs?

Reminds me of a music award show a few years back where Jon Stewart asked the crowd if anyone noticed if there happened to be a band playing behind Shania Twain

[brucegel]

Yes. you are still welcome to pop over and listen.I think that the brightness you perceived is so dependant on so many variables its impossible to determine.I still can't listen to solid state and my audio aero capitole has a tube stage and this seems to eliminate the shrillness that the decapos could illuminate with other components.They are not forgiving of etched recordings nor do they like bright hard reflective surfaces in a room.They are a shade into what I would call hyper revealing meaning they reveal details in the upper frequencies that most speakers don't and yes the midrange is rather odd on spec in the 2k range but works in the real world.If anything can be said it's that the distortion characteristics revealed in tests are arguably too high.

[wongstein]

That's just it, Ron!  Despite all the stimulae at Chris' place, the De Capos still suck me in and make me listen to the music!  Actually, I try to only partake in two of those things at a time - usually perusing the TAS issues while imbibing something with caffeine for critical listening, but sometimes alcohol (for a more "musical" experience).  I don't really oggle his wife either, she's an old pal who one day brought Chris home, a cute but weird guy who loved his stereo way too much - and managed to somehow wrangle me into all of this craziness.

It's true that some SS amps can make the De Capos a bit shrill (which is why I'm going to have to get Chris' wife to let me in when he's not there to trade our amps back, but I don't think she'll be very willing either), hence the sensitivity to brightness that I was talking about, but I find that the De Capos with the Gamut CD-1 and my Plinius 8200 MKII sound fantastic and smoothly extended in the top end, but forever neutral - like a recording studio, but with some bloom and a bit of warmth.

Dave, bruce is correct that the De Capos are very sensitive to placement and hence reflections in the room.  Because of the lack of crossover, it appears that the final tuning of the De Capo frequency response and phase stuff comes from the physical design of the drivers, port, baffling and all that in the cabinet.  Were they toed-in at all at the store, Dave?  That would brighten them A LOT from my experience.   I think they're "tuned" to be facing straight at the back wall while you sit between them making an equilateral triangle - at least, that's how they seem to sound best in the nearfield.

I'd love to know how they sound with some of the amps that you've mentioned, Dave, so if you get a better audition, please post back.

[davehg]

Until I have heard them properly set up. Bruce, a newborn is keeping me from finding the time, but I will keep a rain check.

It's too bad the dealer couldn't hook up the DC's to the demo Air Tights he had. I think the outcome may have been better. Hope so too, since the only other SET friendly speakers I have heard and liked are the gorgeous but large and expensive Avant Garde Uno's ($13k pr), and the less expensive seductive Rethm's I heard at VSAC (which may have placement issues in my room).

Thanks all.