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REVIEW: Classé Audio CP-500 Preamplifier (SS)

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Model: CP-500
Category: Preamplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price: $3500
Description: Classe' Delta Series Preamplifier with Touchscreen Interface
Manufacturer URL: Classé Audio
Model Picture: View

Review by Luminator on August 04, 2010 at 16:50:23
IP Address: 75.25.148.121
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for the CP-500


My last review here on Audio Asylum was the Classe' CDP-102 CD player. I am somewhat surprised that that review did not garner the usual complaints. Moreover, I received via e-mail, several notes of thanks. Here are some quotes, with the senders' permission:

"I'm jealous. It seems that you always have the spankinest music at your house. And you sure have spunk, using freestyle in your posts."

Okay, I've never heard of the word "spankinest," but I'll assume that, in this context, it is positive! I understand that, due to others in your workplace or household, you can't always play the music you like.

"I love your pics of the gear and your kids. But why no pics of yourself?"

I'm the one with the camera :-) And, um, trust me, you don't want to see my ugly mug.

"16 clicks!!! Not only was that fun, no one ever gives that much info on products."

Sorry to disappoint my readers, but this review of the Classe' CP-500 only has 9 posts:

Forever Blue
The Original Soundtrack
Things Here Are Different
Back To The Future
New Clear Days
Made In England
Dreaming Of You
Pocahontas
Robbie Dupree

Classe' do offer an internal phono card for the CP-500. I have not checked out or heard this phono card, so I am not at liberty to comment about it. I'll leave that to others who have indeed used it.

My review on Digital Asylum of the CDP-102 used the music of summer 1993. Let us stay with that theme, and continue to the fall of 1993. In various posts here on Audio Asylum, I have already cited albums from Carcass, Fight, Joe Satriani, and Sepultura. As it is my policy to try to avoid re-using musical citations, let me introduce you to more tunes from that Fall '93 semester.

Geez, in the fall of 1993, my preamps were the Adcom GTP-400, B&K Pro10 MC, and Sony TAE-1000ESD. None was fully balanced. But I learned the hard way that, in order to judge a preamp, you need to use a multitude of sources and interconnects, and then swap with other preamps.

I was still working for the San Francisco Unified School District, but I felt like I was going nowhere. So I put on the blinders, shrugged off work, and dove head-first into high-end audio. And I learned the hard way that far too many audiophile products pump up the upper bass/lower midrange, in an effort to sound "fuller."

I was going down the halls of Everett Middle School, and just could not shake off UB40's infectious reggae-tinged cover of "(I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You." With the Wadia 781i and Simaudio Andromeda as sources, the Classe' CP-500 showed off its tonal flaw: a diminution of that upper bass/lower midrange transition. But you know what? There is no loss of quality . It means that you can more easily get away with the typical audiophile powercords, which fatten the sound. Though I felt the "new" Pranawire Satori (with Oyaide M1/F1 plugs) gave more of what the CP-500 does, I felt that the Maha Samadhi, with its finely filigreed sound, was a superior match. Okay, so most users will not use powercords which cost as much as the CP-500 itself. In that case, the Kimber PowerKord Golds did just fine.

It didn't matter what my relationship status was; when I heard Oleta Adams' "Hold Me For A While," I just felt as though I were in the embrace of a wonderful woman. In the mid-90s, I had Classe's Thrity preamp. Due to its sonics and electrical characteristics, two audiophiles recommended that I go with MIT cables. My Kimber and XLO interconencts made Adams sound too girlie. My AudioQuest and Cardas interconnects made her sound too sleepy and bloated, respectively.

Because of the CP-500's transparency, it tended to sound like whichever interconnect it was used with. If I wanted to maximize transparency, I went with Tara Labs' ISM The One. If I wanted natural images, I went with MIT's Magnum 1.3 or Oracle v1.2. If I wanted something very good across the board, I used Wireworld Platinum Eclipse. If I wanted something cheap with no hassles, I went with Q-Audio's Tao. And so on and so forth. The CP-500 allows you to pick your poison interconnects freely.

Back then, San Francisco's Japantown Bowl was still in operation. I was in the twilight of my "junior" career, and was about to turn adult (meaning I could bowl for money). I'm not exactly sure, but I think our squad was going to an alley on the S.F Peninsula, most likely on El Camino Real. When I heard Bruce Hornsby's "Fields Of Gray," I shook my head at the junior bowlers messing around with each other, and felt relieved and good to be turning adult.

From "Fields Of Gray," it is clear that the otherwise-excellent Simaudio P-8 casts a slight but persistent warmth over the music. It makes me feel as though I'm still shaking my head at the immature junior bowlers. The Classe' CP-500 is refreshingly free of this coloration. It is akin to being happy about turning adult.

Around Halloween, Japantown Bowl would host a 20-game all-night "endurance" tournament. When the October 1993 event was about to start, one of our bowlers, Michael, walked in with a wig, and bounced along, singing Salt-N-Pepa's "Shoop." He was hilarious!

Perhaps nothing shows off upper bass punch like "Shoop." Regardless of source, the Krell KRC-HR has phenomenal bass punch, prowess, power, and control. Using the Classe' CP-500 results in the bass having the same amount of detail, but with a level that is lower, and perhaps not as dry and stiff. More importantly, the KRC-HR just can't reproduce soundstage depth. The CP-500 can get the front-to-back placement of instruments and performers right, with decent space between each image.

In late 1993, I think we had a travel league in Vallejo or maybe Pinole. On the way back to S.F., we were stuck on I-80 from Richmond to Oakland. Even though the afternoon temps were probably only in the 60s, the golden-orange sun blasted through the car windows. While Bryan [no relation to Oleta!] Adams' "Please Forgive Me" came on the radio, my teammate Jimmy fell asleep. And I kept thinking about a girl named VL, who was like a smaller, friendlier version of my ex.

Switching to the Mark Levinson No.380S was a disappointment. It cast a gray haze over the music, slowed it down. With Bryan Adams' "Please Forgive Me," the No.380S' grayed-out sound was like Jimmy waking up in startled fashion, and realizing that we were still stuck in Emeryville. For me, it was like VL telling me that she had an eligible cousin in China. The one advantage the No.380S had was its easy-to-read display. Yes, my audio buddy and I propped the No.380S up, and stuck a Pranawire Satori under the preamp's belly. While that did open up and enlarge the soundstage, the same grayed-out grain infected the music.

In late 1993, San Francisco's Ultimate Sound still occupied the basement "dungeon" in the Sherman Clay building on Kearny Street. Amazingly, one of the receivers was able to pull in [possibly on K101] Phil Collins' "Both Sides Of The Story." Now, nothing captures the visceral crack of the drums as the Simaudio Andromeda CD player.

The Mark Levinson No.326S is one of my all-time favorite preamps. It tends to miniaturize the music, kind of like the perfect scale model of, say, trains. And that was exactly what it did to Collins' "Both Sides Of The Story." In this case, the No.326S made the Simaudio Andromeda sound more like the small and precise dCS Puccini.

The Classe' CP-500 better captured the power and pop of those drums. However, now it became evident that the scale of the images, the proper proportions, were better served by the No. 326S.

Just in time for the holidays, Elton John teamed up with RuPaul to record another version of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." The CP-500's clear, transparent, trouble-free sound allows us not just to listen into the recording, but to get up, and join these two flamboyant performers, and playfully tease each other.

Even when we can get the Conrad Johnson Premier 18LS to work [it doesn't have enough volume control steps. The sound is too frickin' LOUD, even when the readout is at or near "01."], it is a sonic disaster. It casts an unnatural yellow light over the music. It is like submerging my head in warm water, thus muffling and curtailing my hearing. It completely drains the swing, sass, intrigue, and fun out of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." The Premier 18LS makes Kiki Dee and Miss Piggy mad enough, that they want to come up and unplug the preamp.

I don't know how many of us audiophiles went clubbing. But in late 1993, Haddaway's "What Is Love" was a fixture at dances. The Jeff Rowland Criterion preamp is like the Nordost Odin interconnect, coming very close to having no sound at all. Compared to the CP-500, the Criterion strips away layers of hardness and light, more easily (assuming you're using a high-quality source) transporting us back to late 1993, when the Caribbean "What Is Love" kept us strutting sideways.

Putting back the CP-500 lessens the impact of the music. "What Is Love" becomes more of a parody of itself, and thoughts of Night At The Roxbury start to creep in...

You may have a hard time finding Swing Out Sister's Live At The Jazz Cafe. I am not entirely sure, but I think I bought it from Kinokuniya Bookstore in San Francisco's Japantown. My favorite track on this CD is "You On My Mind." The sunny performance reminds me of those dry, rain-free days in 93/94.

Eventually, I would replace the Classe' Thirty with the CP-60. Alas, like most preamps (see: the CJ Premier 18LS above), the CP-60 doesn't have enough volume control range. I had the CP-60 at steps "03" to "05," and the sound was too loud. It may sound like blasphemy to some audiophiles, but my friends and family prefer the looks of the CP-60 (as long as it is in Soft Shadow silver) better than the more modern CP-500. I just wish that Classe' didn't use so much amber in the CP-60's display.

But anyway, the CP-500, at US$3500, actually costs less than the CP-60's US$3695! The CP-500's see-through transparency allows Live At The Jazz Cafe to take place on a stage that is much bigger, cleaner, more focused, definitive, and 3-dimensional. You hear so much more low-level detail and nuance. It's not just about "being there," it's about the actual performance. Moreover, the CP-500 makes listeners aware that the CP-60 has some cottony grain, which may have gone previously undetected [that's why we need to swap preamps]. Yet, the CP-60 can make Swing Out Sister sound like they have better flow, especially on "Am I The Same Girl."

Yes, I have used and lived with preamps which are easier to use and are even more neutral, transparent, and self-effacing. But what strikes me about the Classe' CP-500 is its performance for the price. We can spend a lot more, and end up with worse sound, fewer features, or clunkier ergonomics. The CP-500 is not finicky about associated gear. I find the sonics to be better (truer) than that of, say, the companion CDP-102 CD player.

Okay, does anyone have the CP-500's internal phono board? Good. Now I hand over the microphone to you!

-Lummy The Seahorse


Product Weakness: tiny, illegible display; remote not same size as that of Classe's CDP-102; no headphone jack
Product Strengths: ample volume control range; input offset; no noise or heat issues; good spacing of jacks; neutral towards cables


Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: numerous
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): see text
Sources (CDP/Turntable): numerous
Speakers: B&W 805S; Penaudio Charisma; Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento; Totem The One; Wilson Benesch ARC
Cables/Interconnects: numerous
Music Used (Genre/Selections): rock, pop, metal, R&B, Hawaiian, dance, rap
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




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Topic - REVIEW: Classé Audio CP-500 Preamplifier (SS) - Luminator 16:50:23 08/4/10 ( 5)