Dear Folk,

My CSP2 is here and it's already in three plus days proven itself to be a nobrainer purchase for any Decware owner wishing to buy a preamp. . . . I followed every instruction in the booklet for initial installation and did the delicate installation into my system (with all the Triplepoint feet from Mapleshade, etc.) . . . Well. . . Either it came with a dead fuse, or it blew the fuse the instant I turned it on (I never saw even a flash!) but it was soon in place and running.  I'm going to need to get a new spare fuse.

It's in no way"bloomed" yet, but I can tell it's going to be a great preamp.  It's so nice to be able to watch the tv through the system.  And even my wife doesn't mind it (at least so far) and she would generally prefer to just listen to the compressed sound of the tv (she has a hard time with voices when the tv is coming through on most stereo systems).  So I'm able to use the tuner on my dvd recorder (a Sony with pretty decent sound) and also my TARA Labs cables, old friends for about eleven years that have been languishing in a second system til now) and the cables liven up the sound, sound from the tv is pretty darned nice.

And cds and dvds through the DEC685 sound pretty darned good.  I'm sure they will sound better.  They don't blow me away yet, and I seem to be in a "fuzzy" stage of breakin.  But I'm glad I have the darned thing at last.  Even if just for the tv thing.  With my wife I watch so much tv that I might as well get the benefit of using the system. . . and now I do.

I'm going to be hard pressed to tell anyone if this is a decided improvement over the CSP.  I just don't know, I've never heard the CSP!  I will say this:  my first impression is that it is sonically similar to the DSR II cables in that it doesn't seem to highlight any frequency range, it's very open and the highs are clear and not at all glaring.  Sound-staging is shifting a bit as I listen and tweak the system so I'm not sure what the final version will be.  I do too much tweaking and I'm mostly playing new music that has come in . . . I can't predict through the breakin stage as well as Randy can.  I haven't reached demigod status yet.

I had thought to try to have one channel "ZBox free" and one with the ZBox in place, so I had the tv running from the dvd recorder straight into the CSP2, and the DEC685 going to the ZBox and then into the CSP2.  Sort of like having a two channel tube guitar amp with a "clean" channel and one with effects.  8-)  That was interesting.  I've today put the ZBox behind the CSP2 so that both channels of the CSP2 go to the ZBox then to the amps.  Honestly. . .I don't hear a tremendous difference.  The CSP2 is that good at making signals sound great.  There's a little more "fullness" with the ZBox I'd say.

So, in the interest of honesty and clear speaking. . .and eschewing hyperbole. . . Well, I certainly don't like it as much as Randy does yet. . . . But I do really like it.  I'm not getting quite the "bass transformation" that Randy seems to, and that disappoints me a little. My system has always just needed a little bit more bass, and from all the talk from Randy and Bob I was expecting some. Maybe it's the room or the house and maybe it's the set up.  I'm still tweaking a bit on how it's place in the system.  Lots of factors to play with.  And I'm beginning to think I need to continue playing with gain into the amps to find just the right compromise. I've been doing that this afternoon, and moving interconnects around.

It's definitely fun to listen to.  Just to be able to watch tv through the system is a joy.  And lets me use the system more.  And I think I'm getting a bit more dynamic response from the cds than ever before.  Though I've lost a "mellowness" that was so very endearing in the earlier pre-CSP2 setup.  I'm hoping very hard that when the breakin period is over that mellowness will be there.

More impressions as the days go by.

After this, at some point, I'm going to send my monoblocks in for a power supply upgrade.  Steve has a choked power supply he wants to incorporate into mine and I might as well let him.  But I hate the thought of boxing them up and being without them for weeks is chilling!  I could survive. . . a brief separation.  But more than a few weeks. . . !  I'd be a puddle on the floor!  :)

Thanks for yor observations on the CSP2.  I had my CSP upgraded just recently and I think it is an improvment over the original even before it has finished breaking in.  It's nearing 35 hours of playing time and I will provide a more thourough evaluatin after more listening.

I have 2 Ben Webster CDs.  One is called "Confluence" which I cannot find anywhere for sale and other is Jazz "round midnight featuring Coleman Hawkins, Oscar Pederson, billy strayhorn and teddy Wilson.

Are you familiar with the Confluence CD?  It's a live recording in Paris.

Hi Lon,

Are you running the stock tubes in your CSP2 ..... ?

If you stated which tubes are being used, I missed it.

Thanks,

Randy

Lon,

  I'm glad things are starting to settle in.  I was thinking about your first post.....I don't know how much from the original CSP is left in the CSP2 but I would have to think the caps and all are the same, with that said, I would think someone with the upgraded CSP to CSP2  wouldn't have as much to break in. Or maybe better said, some of mine and Randy's CSP2 already had time on it. I know mine had  a few thousand hours on it before sending it in.

  I was thinking over the weekend mine wasn't impressing me as much as it did the first day or two, Friday night when I shut it down I took the CSP2 out of the system, Saturday night was enjoyable, but later that night I put the CSP2 back in the loop, yeah its  better with it in, the magic was back!!!!

  Just a thought,
Bob Z

My CSP2 is an upgrade version.  There were a few moments during my break-in time when I thought the CSP2 was going solid state on me.     Then after a short time the bloom returned and things continue to get better and better.  Same with my Select awhile back when it was brand new.  Just have to let those little caps flex their muscles.

Okay, little update:

A bit more mellowness returning.  (Not where it was before systemwide though!) A bit more bass.  Not enough though that I can go back to listening with the lower speakers in the Radials "active" though . . . which would be my hopeful final situation.  (I love the sound of the highs and mids and they dynamics of this setup, but with these speakers active there is a diminishment of the bass in my room).

Anyway, I've ordered another set of DSRIIs to use in the system that I think will help bring a bit more of the mellowness back; these are excellent cables.

Great review's Lon, you and Randy have been making my mouth water with all the good reports on the CSP2. Recent auto repair costs and tax time will keep me away from one for a spell or two..

 Have you tried putting your most beloved type tube in the DEC685 and pull the Zbox out of the chain?   I was thinking DEC685 via DSRII's to CSP2 and CSP2 via DSRII's out to the monoblocks with no ZBox in the mix..   Dave

Well, the good things are coming to he who waits.  Exactly two weeks from receipt, and this machine is starting to bloom.  A nice rich carpet of sound.  I have to go to Houston for today, tomorrow and most of Saturday, and I'm going to miss my system!

Cool to hear the Taboo has turned that one corner. . . there will be more. . . I think the amps go through about four plateaux in the first year!

Yes, I'm back with the system again and spent about five hours listening yesterday to music, and a few more hours with TV going through the system.  So glad to have it getting so much use!

I ordered 6N1Ps with the amp (well, more specifically, no one asked but they sent those and that would be what I would ask for, they knew that).

I've been using the very same tubes, but cryo'd, in my EL34 Monoblocks.  I'm very happy with them.  I put cryo'd versions in the CSP2.  I find they work really well with digital.

DaveCan wrote on 04/15/07 at 17:22:10:

Hey Dave, today I took the ZBox out of the mix again.

Wow, it's different now than the last time. There's hardly any difference. . . MAYBE a tiny bit of bass not there now, MAYBE a tiny bit of "ease" not there. . . BUT . . .a bit more dynamic contrast and I'm going to leave it this way for a bit, and draw a larger conclusion later.  Thanks again for the suggestion.  It sure is a "simpler" path.

Thank God for Saturday mornings.  I get to listen to about four hours of music at least.  And I really need it.  I had the week from HELL.

Well. . .there is a "magic" that the ZBox has that is addictive. . .I already miss something.  But not much.

Listening to some Louis Armstrong now.  Nothing better.

 Great experiment Lon. At least you know for sure now and you know your system very well, and if the Zbox give's it that "somethin,somethin'' then thats a good thing....  Dave