Quote Originally Posted by blackraven View Post
Was the C2200 detailed? Did it have good air, sound stage and transparency? Was it warm or more neutral? How as the midrange?
Let me address air and sound stage first. The best I can describe is that I wasn't hearing a big wall of sound crashing on top of me but instead I felt like was surrounded by music in different locations on different planes yet everything melded together without being mushed together into a conglomeration. The air was there because if I chose to I could easily focus on a particular instrument and analyze it then break my concentration and enjoy the piece as a whole. Not sure if that makes any sense but it's the only way I can explain it without resorting to all useless reviewer adjectives and terminology.

Now as far as warmth vs detail that's a more slippery slope. My preference is for warmth over detail and i think I'd rate every piece of gear in my system from source to speakers to be on the warm side. What I can say is when I inserted the C2200 into the mix I didn't I feel like I turned my listening room into a quiet ski cabin with thick area rugs, giant tapestries and furry elk heads on the wall which rob high frequencies. You mentioned tone controls for taming sibilance, well the same cd's where I needed to turn down the treble with other preamps I still needed to do so with the C2200. Based on this I think it's has some pretty darn neutral qualities but since nothing is absolutely neutral I'd say a tick on the warm side.

I have used various Rotel, Adcom, Onkyo Integra, Creek, Bryston preamps in my system in the same room and the C2200 was my favorite.