Hi, Guys,
Wow... I am away from the forums for a few days and come back to find all these great new posts. You are all awesome. And this is beginning to feel like a midpoint somewhere between tech support and psychotherapy. :-D
Okay, yes, I am making myself nuts over this, admittedly. But since people still seem interested, here's where I am.
My Shrimp preamp and Mahi mono-blocks have now sold. I have a budget of roughly $2300-2400 to work with. That's absolutely maximum, no wiggle room. Of course, I don't HAVE to spend that much, but it's my upper limit.
Here are my options at that point:
1) Coincident Dynamo 34SE. Advantages: great reviews, assurance from Israel Blume himself that it'll drive the De Capo's with no trouble and Brownsfan seems to concur. Point-to-point wiring. Pretty cosmetics. Weight 22 lbs., suggesting hefty transformers and power supply (although some of that is probably also due to stainless steel chassis.) Available immediately. Downsides: only one input, necessitating cable swapping to go from turntable to DAC. Sense that rectifier tube is crappy and needs to be upgraded. Price, $1299 shipped.
2) Decware SE 34I.4, aka "Rachael." Advantages: hand made to order, including ability to dictate some aesthetic choices, capacitor and other upgrades and number of inputs. Point-to-point wiring. Burned in and voiced with actual, shipped tubes. Lifetime warranty. Decware known for amazing "holography" and a certain "etherial" quality. 30-day money-back guarantee, although, with 10% restock fee and return shipping, I'd stand to lose around $225 if I returned the amp. Downsides: lack of professional reviews (although great customer feedback online). "Light" (?) at 18 lbs - Steve Deckert swears by his proprietary transformers and says that they're so efficient and well designed that they don't have to weigh a ton to sound great. Current wait time running 3-4 weeks.
3) Antique Sound Labs AQ 1005 DT, which I can get at a nice discount within my budget as a previous Reference 3A/Divergent Technology customer. 300b based with volume remote control and 4 or 5 inputs. Point-to-point wiring. Designed for the De Capo. Heavy beast... 55 lbs., I think, suggesting robust transformers, etc. Disadvantages: no reviews I've been able to find. Resale value uncertain. Designed in Hong Kong and made in China... not a deal breaker, but something I was hoping to avoid.
And here are a few "left field" possibilities:
4) Bottlehead Paramount 1.1 monoblocks, kit. Price around $1700, preamp still needed, but could add a Bottlehead pre for not that much money. Assembly needed. 300b based. I've built a Bottlehead kit before, but this one is pretty complex. Sound quality and synergy with De Capo's is a guess.
5) Audio Note basic 300b Kit 1, 2014 edition. Great aesthetics for a DIY project, and I'd guess the best resale value of any kit. Available with 3-input option for $2325. Kit seems fairly easy to build. Tricked out "C-core" kit with fancier transformers and caps is, unfortunately, over budget at $3525. No track record with De Capo.
6) Art Audio PX-25 amp with volume control and 1 input currently for sale on Audiogon. Seller wants $2800 (original price something like $6000) but might come down given no sale yet. ;-) Supposed to be reference level, according to reviews.
Okay... what'cha think? Determined to make a choice this week and get on with my life. ;-)
