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DIY HiFi Forum Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences. |
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DIY HiFi Forum Welcome! Need support, you got it. Or share your ideas and experiences. |
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In Reply to: Any Cole Reviews out there??? posted by drcruz on March 11, 2006 at 09:45:16:
and I love it! It is the previous model, with wood face.Easy enough to build - but remember this one has PCB compared to the current model's point-to-point. I had a bit of hum on the MC setting, but Brian was endlessly patient in helping track it down. It is now very quiet - no hum at listening position with normal-high volumes.
Sound is transparent, liquid smooth, balanced, detailed, exciting. 3-D sound staging is good enough to give a real sense of the recording site's ambience. Previous phono stages I have heard include Onkyo integrated amp, Cambridge Audio 640P and Plinius M12. The Cole is in a totally different league to all of these. Sorry I don't have any experience in any of the high end alternatives.
It responds well to tube rolling - I have all NOS in now. Amperex Bugle Boy 6DJ8 was a HUGE improvement - female vocals especially (Diana Krall, Norah Jones etc). Raytheon 5751 instead of the 12AX7 is also an improvement - less edgy and a lot smoother. The 5751 has a little less gain than the 12AX7, but it doesn't seem to matter.
The rest of the chain is Garrard 301/RB300 (tweaked out)/Shelter 501, Django, Ella, Bastani Dragonflies. The old Cole (and the new ones without the CCS option) are supposed to have trouble driving the Django - I haven't noticed anything suggestive of an impedance mismatch. YMMV.
There is one main problem with the Cole - I don't listen to my CD's very often now!!
The new Cole is quite different on paper - point to point, no NFB, amorphous core MC stepups, LCR option, CCS option... Like you, I have not seen any reviews so far, but would love to hear what people think.
Hope this gets the ball rolling
Brian
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Follow Ups
- I have an old Cole - Kiwi_brian 02:36:31 03/12/06 (1)
- EXCELLENT! Thanks for input. (nt) - drcruz 19:39:04 03/12/06 (0)
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