Coincident Dragon MK I vs MK II

Erndog,
Just to be fair, those who are familiar with the Zu line say the DEF MK IV is
a significant improvement. I'm not sure if you can attribute a common
house sound or not (I haven't heard them). Germanboxers found the Zu -
Frankenstein match to sound very well.But as you acknowledged, different
system and ears.
In terms of the Coincident speakers I find them to sound as impressive as
their electronics and as one would anticipate work wonderfully together. Of
course I haven't heard every model but I did I hear the Pure Reference and
my Total Eclipse and can say the match is excellent. I'm not familiar with
the Victory models that utilize a ribbon tweeter.Coincident speakers are
very transparent, open and quite uncolored.For the most part, you will just
hear the character of the source and electronics just as jimmy has
described before in other posts. I'd say the overall sound of my system is
organic and just a bit to the warmer side of dead center neutral.Tone is
adequately saturated with a full bodied sound and much harmonic
preservation if that helps you get a feel for their sound with my particular
components.
Regards,

Ernie,

I'm surprised the Dragons/Zu Druid combo produced an analytical sound. Could it be a synergy issue of your cables/Zu Druid combo?

Coincident gears do have a common characteristic: neutrality (whether speakers or electronics). However, the line of speakers do sound abit different, depending on your liking. My experience with Coincident started in 2003 with owning Triumph Signature bookshelf, then a Conquest in 2004, Triumph Extreme in 2006, Super Eclipse Mk3 in 2008. In 2010, an audiophile friend allowed me to run my then Dragons MK1 (with black faceplate) on his Total Eclipse Mk2. Before my CPRE in 2011, i had the latest Triumph Extreme MK2 in 2010.

None of these speakers i owned were analytical. To my surprise, i didn't like the Super Victory Mk2 after hearing it in a dealer showroom, it could due to the ribbon tweeter but it sounded more airy, extended and detailed than the Triumph Extreme MK2. But the dealer wasn't using coincident cables and amps...so i can't say for sure it was the ribbon tweeter. I didn't read alot of professional reviews on Coincident speakers that their ribbon tweeter sounded bright or analytical..then maybe it's my personal preference. Maybe it's tendency of ribbon tweeter to sound abit shrill?

I personally find Franks to be most easily live with. Dragons are prone to line noise, the brightness of tubes, the heat it generated from the pair of 211 tubes and the size & weight of dragon amps, of course the price difference.

If you ever going to consider used Coincident speakers:
1. Under $3000, you could get yourself a used Total Eclipse. The Dragons/Total Eclipse combo sounded big in scale and ballsier than the polite Franks and even the Cary 805AE. But Dragons sounded darker and prone to line noise, compared to Cary 805AE which is much quieter in background noise.

2. Less than $2000, a used Super Eclipse. I would prefer Super Eclipse for it's midrange liveliness and clarity. I would augment the lower octave with a quality active subwoofer.

3. Lastly, maybe Triumph Extreme MK2 with active subwoofer? The monitors are the champs in imaging.

For most music, Franks should do the job well and if you add the Statement Linestage...Franks will sound more powerful yet retaining the purity and transparency it was known for. Even driving the Total Eclipse which Charles currently owns, is not a problem. Dragons will sound much more powerful than Franks but surprisingly, i felt Franks is not less dynamic than Dragons due to that radio music experience i heard once on the Franks, was unforgettable. So i can't say that the Dragons are more dynamic due to it's higher power. But my thirst for power, eventually lead me to sacrifice purity and transparency for higher power dragons. Now, with Dragons MK2...i don't miss Franks.

Jimmy

Of course, LineStage/Dragons will offer you a very powerful sound and bigger sound stage, if you match it with good cables and the right speakers. Strongly encourage to listen to Coincident Speakers and their cables, to find out if that sound is what you like. Even driving or flying to that dealership will be more cost effective and productive than merry go round.

Jimmy

Thanks for both of your observations and experience about this. It is giving more to think about for sure.

This whole experience has led me to the conclusion that my Overdrive SE dac leans more on the detailed side of the spectrum. I prefer an organic sound. So when I paired up the Druids with the Dragons with the Overdrive dac, there was nothing in the chain giving it any warmth. So I'm taking a different approach. I ordered a Chord QuteHD dac along with a fully loaded Off-Ramp 4 usb converter. This dac is known to produce a more organic tone while still maintaining detail. We'll see which dac is a better fit for my rig.

It feels important for me to really get my source nailed down, so that I absolutely love it and that it produces the most realistic music. I don't like an overly warm, euphonic presentation either. I prefer the warm side of neutral. This whole business of component matching is such a delicate matter to get it right.

On a side note, I was able to get on a Power conditioner tour on Audiocircle website which should be coming next week: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=114616.0. Right now I'm using a Running Springs Haley, which I'm very satisfied with. I used a PS Audio Quintet before that and had mixed feelings about it. The Haley was a no brainer right when I plugged it in.

Erndog,
Your approach to get the source nailed down is right.If you go the Coincident route you`ll hear the essential character of the source component very clearly.Jimmy is right, the Coincident electronics and speakers are quite neutral(relatively speaking).My DAC is the Yamamoto YDA and it is rather organic and full tone/body but also transparent and very nuanced.The Coincident chain of equitment doesn`t alter that fundamental character as the signal travels downstream.So your plan is correct,choose your front end source carefully to achieve the overall sound you want.
Regards,