Coincident Statement Phono & Statement Line Stage

[audiopoor]

My search to put together state of the art electronics in my front end at a somewhat reasionable cost had me in a state of depression untill I started reading and finding praise about Coincident gear which is sold direct and is only 45 minutes away from me, in Toronto. I quickly realized their phono stage has a passive front end on it allowing it to be used as a pre-amp untill more funds become available to add a line stage. Perfect. I called Israel Blume and was welcomed to his beautiful home and large dedicated audition room. I was immediately taken by the sense of spaciousness I was hearing and had to situp and take notice. I've been into audio my whole life and been to so many audio shows and heard many friends systems, so I know when something is special. Coincident equipment is up there with the best I've ever heard. After hearing that level of immediacy and transparency,nothing else would do. That was last year and I'm still thrilled with my Statement Phono but as with passives their pitfall is the lack of dynamic punch. The sound is not quite full bodied. There is a lack of bass foundation. I knew it was going to be this way untill I was able to get a line stage. I would only recommend going this route if your speakers are at least 90db efficient and your using short ic's. Do it as a stepping stone. I could almost continue to live with it this way but I want more. I finally was able to purchase a line stage but I got caught up in thinking about features. A remote would be great and tone controls for those terrible recordings and more inputs but what a mistake. It was sound but not involving music. I've now brought home the Coincident Statement Line Stage that I first heard at Israels. This has got to be the best piece of equipment I've ever bought. The design is transformer based without the use of a single capacitor in the signal path and the power supply feels massive at 40 lbs. To me, maybe this is what I'm hearing or not hearing and this 101d tube seems to be so delicate, sensitive and pure. It has given the phono signal so much life but has not taken away any of it's immediacy or deteriorated the sound in any way. I couldn't be happier.
Harv







The 101d tubes by Shuguang


Coincident Statement Line Stage



Coincident Statement Phono Preamplifier





The 101d tubes do not give off much light or heat.



Inside the Coincident Statement Line Stage



Ingenious floating 101d tube socket sub platform.

[Masterlu]

Congrad's Harv!

We love Pics, thanks for posting.

Beautiful pix and even more beautiful gear. Thanks for sharing. I wish all high end gear was that beautiful. Easy on the eyes. I have heard that Coincident gear including their speakers is top of the mountain - look no further - end your quest.

[chessman]

Harv, big congrats on some great looking gear!

[audiopoor]

Thanks for the kind words guys. It's my pleasure to share it with you! Here's a few more pics.

Even though the Coincident box took a bit of a hit on one side before I got it, the double box and surround foam protected all.





The 101d tubes came nicely packed.





Thought went into heat dissipation with the holes stamped around each tube socket and the caps for the tubes remove heat along with a inner spring for tube dampening. The footers are soft and settle down a bit just like Foculpods.









There is not too much difference in the tube pin sizes. I was warned to be careful and be shure.




I'm so impressed with the floating sub platform. Those 101d tubes ring more easily than any 12ax7, 6922, 6dj8,6550 that I have experience with. Just the slightest tap with your finger nail on the 101d and it comes through your speakes loud and clear. This suspension is superb. Not a hint of microphonics.
Your looking at it upside down, of coarse.

[Still-One]

Great photos. Thanks for posting.

Jim

[Whart]

Gorgeous. You'll have lot's of fun with those two pieces. I was in a similar position back in 2006 and bought the Manley Steelhead, which does have an active linestage, but I was not entirely happy with the overall sound of the system. Adding a separate line stage seemed to give me the full breadth of the music, although there was something very powerful and forthright about the Steelhead running straight in that adding a line stage (in my case, a Lamm, which is pretty reticient sounding until dynamic passages occur) seemed to subdue.
I also had less than happy experiences using the MC step up part of the Manley- the MM just sound better, at least with NOS tubes. The transformers sounded uneven- some parts brightly lit, others hollow- and playing with all the knobs made small differences, but overall, I preferred the sound of the MM side of the phono stage for my MC cartridges.
I have not heard the Coincident pieces. They look extremely well made, and I like the shiny bits! (Years ago, using an ARC SP-10, which was notoriously microphonic, for phono, I had ARC install similar cushioned tube sockets as an experiment. The damped sockets came from an outside vendor whose name I long forgot, but they made a big difference in the performance of that unit, which, compared to these pieces, was somewhat like listening in the Dark Ages).
Not to make you start thinking about it, but tube rolling on the phono stage?

[audiopoor]

I was considering the Steelhead when I first started looking for a phono stage. I'm so suprised that the Steelhead didn't live up to your expectations with it's MC stage. That's kind of a slap in the face. It's an expensive piece of equipment that you would expect to elevate your system. Your model from 06 wouldn't have had the attenuation controls, correct. That was not part of it's original release. I hope I remember this correctly, when talking with Israel of Coincident, he mentioned that he had a part in the design or consulting of the Steelhead with EveAnna Manley of Manley Laboratories. He suggested to her to add the volume controls but they didn't. It took them a few years untill they did. The Steelhead was the phono stage used by Coincident at audio shows in the early 2000's untill Israel made his own. What are you using now? Don't be shy, fill out you signature.
I have done some tube rolling but I keep going back to stock tubes that came with the Statment Phono, reissued Mullards. I've tried Gold lions, RCA, Sylvania, Siemens and McIntosh labeled 12ax7's. But your right I should roll them again since I've made changes. I would realy like to try Telefunkens. They get a lot of love here.

12AX7 types



Harv

[joeinid]

Harv,

Beautiful setup and photos. Thank you very much!

[jwhite613]

Originally Posted by joeinid

Harv,

Beautiful setup and photos. Thank you very much!

+1

Now keep us updated with how it sounds!