New CAT owner with a few questions????

Was A CAT owner for 4years and now have the Aloia. Both are excellent with an edge to the Aloia in the phono stage. Aloia is about half the price

I am a current CAT owner. I have tried a fair number of NOS tubes and decided to use Telefunken 12AX7's in V8 and V9 and Telefunken 6922's in V6 and V7. In V10, I use a less expensive Telefunken 6DJ8. I have tried a Telefunken CCa in V6 and V7, which I liked even better, but I am not sure that it is "allowed". I have asked CAT to research whether this tube is acceptable in those positions. Meanwhile, I am not using the CCa. Other brands I have tried are Mullard, Amperex, Siemens, Tungsram and of course the stock Sovtek 6922's and EI 12AX7's. I think the EI's are excellent for new tubes, but the Sovtek doesn't measure up. With Telefunken, you will get a warmer sound, better bass extension and the preamp sounds more dynamic. The Telefunken CCa adds a little more highs than the Tele 6922. I would say the CAT is quite sensitive to which tubes that you use and you can tailor the sound to your tastes by selecting tubes carefully. As far as power cords, I have tried the ESP Essence, which is in fact, the one recommended by Ken Stevens, the designer of the CAT. I found little to no difference using this cord. I have tried several others and found either little difference or a degradation. But then again, I have no complaints about the sound with my NOS tubes and the stock power cord, except I would like to hear a little more in the upper mids and highs. I know the Tele CCa's will give this to me. Just awaiting CAT's go ahead to use them. CAT is the smoothest, quietest, most distortion free and most musical preamp I have ever heard.

Have owned my CAT for some 8 years now, and had it upgraded to MK 3. the first incarnation was a drag with almost any brand tube at V6 V7 failed at its task.
The MK 3 is much better behaving, i use the Siemens 6922 goldpin at V6 V7 for some time now, with very reliable and great sounding result. also have a good stock of nos 6922 Ediswan, which are great sounding, but not as rugged as the Siemens.
The CAT was and is very sensitive on its tubes.
i never liked any loading on the phono. keep the 47K.
for powercords, tried many but no big results here, so may keep the stock cord. heard many CAT owners with the PS-300 having great results.
always go for an absolute earthing rod in your garden, but this tweak will account for every gear, be tube or SS.
Some dont even prefer the Ultimate over the MK-3, matter of taste.. maybe the only preamp worth consideration over the CAT is an Atma-Sphere MP-1 mk2.

I have to agree with superclamp on the MK-3. I didn't hear any difference from the Ultimate to the MK-3. You can probably find a real steal on a MK-3

The idea that there is no difference between the Mk. 3 and Ultimate is far-fetched. I have both, and the Ultimate is clearly superior. In fact, I could hear the difference thirty feet away; the Ultimate simply provides a bigger soundstage, tighter bass.