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Old 10-17-2013, 01:42 PM
Jerome W's Avatar
Jerome W Jerome W is offline
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Ok, here we go.

I never heard the CC80 so I cannot tell you wether the CCQ is darker or brighter.
What I can say is that imho, the overall character of a tube amp, does not depend on the tubes used when it has been designed by a great designer .

The overall character of the EL34 tube, as accepted by rich, sweet and powerful mids, a clean bass but without the most strength in impacts, and a sweet and polite treble, does not apply to the CCQ. It applies to common EL34 amps. Not exceptionnal ones like the Corton Charlemagne.

I have had 2 tube amps based on KT88's : the 275 and the 2301's. They sounded very different. The 275 was much warmer and colored. The 2301's were much brighter. They sounded extremely neutral, especially compared to the very dark sounding 501's SS amps I had just before them. When I switched to the 2301's from the 501's, the sound became faster and it seemed to me that a very thick wool cover had been removed from the speakers.

Now, when I got the CCQ, after the 2301's, I got the same feeling ! the CCQ were much more refined but also more dynamic, faster, and more extended at both extreme frequencies. So not darker at all all than the KT88's 2301's : much much clearer and they seem to be much more neutral. ( Seem because no audio component is perfectly neutral imho ).

But my Snappers based on EL34's were clearly darker than the 2301's. Still, they give me more excitement, more involvement in the music, and they sounded also more forgiving than the 2301's. Although their definition was less extended than the 2301's, I preferred to keep the Snappers and sold the big Mcs.

So you see, really no definitive conclusion here.
The Snappers, EL34 based, are darker than the 2301's with their 16x KT88's, which are themselves darker than the CCQ with their EL34's ! The Snappers are actually very close in sound to the 275, but with more drive and "oomph" factor.

The CCQ is the best amplifier I ever heard. Both on neutrality and on musicality. The McIntosh 225 is very close to them, but lacks their bass authority on most speakers. With high eff speakers, the match would be very tough between the 225 and the CCQ.

I hope this helps.

I have heard the Verity Parsifal Encore : fabulous speakers. And I have great respect for your VTL amps.
My guess is that the CCQ will shine on speakers with the finesse of the Parsifal. They have an extreme refinement combined with ease and power that most amps can only approach. They will kick the ...ss of the VTLs as they kicked the one of my 2301's.
90 % of the Shindo magic is in the preamp.
But when you get the last 10 % with the power amp, the sky opens above your head !
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Last edited by Jerome W; 10-17-2013 at 01:50 PM.
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