My Rhea's new partner arrives today

Hi Dan...I am also interested in the Calypso!! I also have the Rhea (all original tubes and they sound fine). I am curious to know how you feel about a "no mono" and balance capability on the Calypso? I am anxious to hear more form you as the tubes have more hours.

I should be outside stacking firewood now that it's finally quit raining here in New England. I should be, but I'm not!

The Calypso experiment is progressing very well. It did occur to me that I might tame some of the slight edginess by switching out tonearm/cartridge combination. I have been running my Vector/103R combination for a few weeks now that I finally seemed to have solved the static issue I was having. But that's another story. This arm and cartridge together are quite dynamic. I think the edginess is attributable to the 103R. The Calypso/Rhea is to be a very revealing combination, which really suits my tastes. Others may want more of a tube sound and from Stew3859's post it is possible to get it with the right tubes.

Anyway, out came the Graham 2.2/Benz Glider. The main difference here is the cartridges as I think the 2.2 is very stable with this cartridge. The Benz is pretty dynamic but also abit smoother. This combination is working very well with the Calypso/Rhea.

The Calypso is really beginning to impress me! There is part of Peter Gabriel's Red Rain when the bass is playing a riff towards the end that starts as a single phrase, no harmony. Then it starts into the same riff with harmony. (Sorry, I'm not a musician so I'm describing this the best I can.) I've never heard that before and I've played this record hundreds of times! The bass is very clear, every bit as much as the BAT and maybe more. It's doing a very good job controlling the 301's. Now, this is not what I would call a tubey sounding pre by any means. But it is not really SS sounding either. This is how I've always thought of the 50SE's sound as well.

Rwd, I'm not sure where this notion that the Calypso doesn't have balance capability came from (I have read that too), but it certainly does. If you adjust the balance (which can only be done with the remote) you see two volume settings come up in the window, one side less than the other. The lack of mono is not such a big deal for me either. I've tried switching to mono on the BAT while playing mono records and I don't hear any difference. Perhaps if I had a mono cartridge.

I think I'm going to have to listen to the Calypso for a week or so and then switch back to the 50SE.

Thanks Dan...your input is going to be very valuable to me as was Perfectionsit's so i awaite your comments. I have an ARC LS25 and I am thinking of the upgrade to the Calypso.

I have to say that I'm blown away by the one-box solution of the Aesthetix Janus. How do you like the classe/aesthetix combo Dan_ed? I'm looking at the BAT VK-250, but haven't figured it all out yet, you tried any other SS amps?

Hi Dan,

I can relate so much to your experiences with the BAT vs. Calypso....and the Callisto. I had a BAT 31SE (a phenomenol product) and it too threw a much bigger stage and did a more accurate portrayal of space than the Calypso in my system. But the Calypso allows so much more low level information, subtle queues in the performance, and greater dynamics in the upper frequencies. It is a very tough call to choose and ultimately it comes down to balancing with the rest of your system.

With my preferences being more in the areas of warmth/bloom/3D, the BAT was prefered. But once you hear the subtractive nature of the BAT vs. the Calypso, this lingers in the back of your mind. This all ended up being a moot point as I went with the Callisto which has all of the strengths of both and goes to another level in portrayal of space, dynamics and low-end extension and control.

The Calypso I have heard many times as a reference here is the one owned by A'gon member Jadem6 (JD). He has really maxed out the performance in his unit with tube rolling. I suspect this has much to do with the incredible resolution and openess that I have experienced with this model. I strongly suggest you contact him if you are interested in tube rolling advice. I have done a lot of experimentation of 6922, 12ax7 and EL34 tube rolling in the Callisto and the Io with various Telefunken, Siemens, Mullard, Ei vs. the stock Sovtek and could give you some details here. But I suspect JD's direct experience with your model would be more valuable.

Concerning phono stages, I had an identical experpience with the BAT P10 and the Io. Both were standard models, but for the $1k difference on the used market, the Io was in a completely different league (with stock Sovtek tubes) in the sense of dimensionality, decays, etc. This model loaded up with Telefunkens is pure magic. And in the case here with the Callisto/Io, as for you as with the Calypso/Rhea pair, it is no surprise these are incredibly musical products.

John