High End 2018 • Hot Product

Convergent Audio Technology announced two new versions of its evergreen preamplifiers -- the $20,000 SL1 Renaissance BPA (shown above) and the $42,000 SL1 Legend BPX. The secret sauce for both is disclosed in the “BP” found in both names. The units incorporate even more Black Path capacitors. CAT chief engineer Ken Stevens has a long story to tell about the expense, rarity and quality of these exotic capacitors, but the shorter version of the story is that the original SL1 Renaissance used four Black Path caps only as interstage coupling caps, while the newer version uses Black Path caps and specially designed wire in the entire audio chain. A similar upgrade is found in the more expensive SL1 Legend, where, in addition to the audio-chain capacitors, Stevens has used Black Path caps in the power supply. The Legend, which is just now going into production, was not shown in Munich.