.......it was all the music I wasn't hearing! I don't have enough superlatives to describe the sound improvement brought by the LFD amp. While it doesn't have the look, ancillary features, and size of some of the upper end units (Luxman, etc.) this baby absolutely kills when it comes to producing big, accurate, gorgeous, detailed sound (plus a real kick-butt bass)!
Gene Rubin, the West Coast distributor, insists that some of his customers are trading in amp combos costing more than 10X the price of the LFD and liking the LFD better. I was a bit skeptical of that claim at first, as sales hype, but my skepticism is rapidly vanishing. It's extremely well made and quite compact. Dimensions are 17" W x 8" D x 3.25" H but weighs in at about 24 lbs. Front panel is really simple---almost elegant---it has only three very high quality knobs (volume, input selector, and tape monitor), one toggle switch for power, and a tiny little blue LED. It definitely runs cooler than the Marantz I had. And, if the position of the volume knob is any indication, at really serious listening levels (about 8 - 10 o'clock, depending) it has more muscle than the Marantz even though theoretically rated at lower wpc (60 vs. 70). There are no balance or tone controls, nor any remote, so I'm back to using either the Touch remote, SBS web interface, or iPeng for "in my seat/lazy butt" volume adjustments. Mostly I just get up and give a few little touches to the volume knob which has a really lovely feel to it. Back panel has power, 5 standard RCA-type analog inputs, speaker terminals for one set of speakers, and tape input and output. A la Henry Ford, it comes in any color you like as long as you like charcoal grey! Somewhere in my research I read someone's description of the unit (and sound) as artisinal. Very apt, I should say. Heartfelt kudos to Dr. Bews, LFD's principal designer and, apparently, assembler (I have unit #120 according to the hand-lettered rear panel label)! If you can find one, I wholeheartedly recommend this unit to anyone who's got a few spare bucks/pounds/euros to spend on it. -- rgro Rick System information ------------------------ Main: PS Audio Quintet > Vortexbox > Touch (wired) via spdif coax > Rega DAC > LFD LE IV amp > VA Mozart Grands > REL Acoustics R305. Home Theatre: SBR (Wired) > Pioneer VSX 919 > Energy Take 5 Classic 5.1. SBS 7.5.4 r32298 running on a Vortexbox Appliance, V 1.9. Touch w/Hardware V.5. Touch: FW 7.5.4 r9408. Duet: FW 68. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ rgro's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=34348 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=88415 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
