I've just received my new amp from Robert lai in Singapore about a week ago, a heavily tweaked line magnetic 845 premium. After reading about acme tubes here, and about LM amplifiers in general, i have opted to swap all stock tubes with acme 845s, 300Bs, psvane we310a replicas, telefunkan 12xa7.
Skipping the stock probably didn't allow me to see the improvements from such premium tubes, but i could not be bothered! I wanted the best straight away.
My speaker of choice was a cube audio nenuphar single driver. A match made in heaven! I believe this brand and that particular speaker from their line up deserves way more attention and exposure. Anyone considering getting a new speaker for a SET amp, please do your research about these!! You will be doing yourself a favour ))
Long story short, its been a week, things are barely broken in, and I'm still getting mind blown every time i switch on this beast of an amplifier!
I have had several headphone amplifiers in the past, including a woo wa5. But when i switched to speakers, I have been using only solid state amps. I have always dreamt of going back to tubes - esp 300B sound (had sophia royal princess on my wa5 back then). But was worried which speaker to pair with a lower power SET. Proper horns are really expensive, always heard that single drivers bass response is a week spot. The nenuphar was the answer (heard it at a friend's house many times before i bought it). a true revolutionary speaker, zero sacrifices on any front thanks to its special 10 inch driver. I thought i might sacrifice on bass department when i sold my KEFs, oh boy i was very wrong!! Coming from a gryphon diablo 300 with KEF reference 5s speakers, the current situation is like heaven vs earth;
-same dynamic swing, if not more. Thanks to 30 watts of class A, and the nenuphar being efficient
- perfect speed/timing. The diablo was faster, but speed is not everything.
- mind boggling transparency, with the best tone i have ever heard in my room - no sacrifices of any sort. Thanks to the tweaks Robert did on the amp, the acme tubes, the single driver design without crossover. I'm hearing details i have never heard, while the whole signature is very musical, emotional and engaging beyond description!!
-level of holography/3d is better than diablo 300 which was a very good amplifier! I guess its just tubes doing their magic. 3d life like presentation that left me for the first time ever not craving the next upgrade.
- one of my concerns was that i like to play louder than average listening levels at times. The LM845 says no problem! I'm getting more db that what i had with diablo 300 and kef, yet is way more ear pleasing, Zero distortion or harshness when pushed. Also the amp doesn't break a sweat, the speakers are singing with ease no Matter how pushed. The ceiling seems to be only my own desire of volume level.
This is the sound that i have always dreamed of and imagined, So happy its realised. Maybe its just the "honeymoon" period. But i have never felt such satisfaction before, truly. I might be just doing small tweaks moving forward, like a better umbilical cord to connect the amp chassis, or maybe some isolation footers, etc. But I'm DONE with major components.
Special thanks to Robert lai for his advice and guidance thought the whole process of returning to tubes. Such a great guy to deal with!
Skipping the stock probably didn't allow me to see the improvements from such premium tubes, but i could not be bothered! I wanted the best straight away.
My speaker of choice was a cube audio nenuphar single driver. A match made in heaven! I believe this brand and that particular speaker from their line up deserves way more attention and exposure. Anyone considering getting a new speaker for a SET amp, please do your research about these!! You will be doing yourself a favour ))
Long story short, its been a week, things are barely broken in, and I'm still getting mind blown every time i switch on this beast of an amplifier!
I have had several headphone amplifiers in the past, including a woo wa5. But when i switched to speakers, I have been using only solid state amps. I have always dreamt of going back to tubes - esp 300B sound (had sophia royal princess on my wa5 back then). But was worried which speaker to pair with a lower power SET. Proper horns are really expensive, always heard that single drivers bass response is a week spot. The nenuphar was the answer (heard it at a friend's house many times before i bought it). a true revolutionary speaker, zero sacrifices on any front thanks to its special 10 inch driver. I thought i might sacrifice on bass department when i sold my KEFs, oh boy i was very wrong!! Coming from a gryphon diablo 300 with KEF reference 5s speakers, the current situation is like heaven vs earth;
-same dynamic swing, if not more. Thanks to 30 watts of class A, and the nenuphar being efficient
- perfect speed/timing. The diablo was faster, but speed is not everything.
- mind boggling transparency, with the best tone i have ever heard in my room - no sacrifices of any sort. Thanks to the tweaks Robert did on the amp, the acme tubes, the single driver design without crossover. I'm hearing details i have never heard, while the whole signature is very musical, emotional and engaging beyond description!!
-level of holography/3d is better than diablo 300 which was a very good amplifier! I guess its just tubes doing their magic. 3d life like presentation that left me for the first time ever not craving the next upgrade.
- one of my concerns was that i like to play louder than average listening levels at times. The LM845 says no problem! I'm getting more db that what i had with diablo 300 and kef, yet is way more ear pleasing, Zero distortion or harshness when pushed. Also the amp doesn't break a sweat, the speakers are singing with ease no Matter how pushed. The ceiling seems to be only my own desire of volume level.
This is the sound that i have always dreamed of and imagined, So happy its realised. Maybe its just the "honeymoon" period. But i have never felt such satisfaction before, truly. I might be just doing small tweaks moving forward, like a better umbilical cord to connect the amp chassis, or maybe some isolation footers, etc. But I'm DONE with major components.
Special thanks to Robert lai for his advice and guidance thought the whole process of returning to tubes. Such a great guy to deal with!
Robert Lai is great. I toyed with going the LM845 premium but very happy I went with the LM805ia. Congratulations Saleh, much happy listening!
I don't know each and every single component that Robert has changed, but what i know is he replaced some caps with mundorf silver gold oil caps, he replaced the sockets for 845 tubes with a better quality ones, he replaced the XLR and power socket with furutech ones. I think there is also more in what he calls "Singapore edition" ))
I'm considering replacing the stock umbilical cord with a neotech solid silver cable, which he could make. That's just something that only the LM845 could benefit from being a two chassis amp.
Here is Robert's email: robertlai@liveacoustics.com.sg
Please feel free to drop him an email with your questions, he is quite helpful and resourceful. I don't know what have in mind, sending the amp to him, or more of a DYI job (personally I'm not that capable yet). He might be able to sell you the parts you need in case that's what u were thinking. Shipping something as heavy back and forth could be a daunting costly task!
I was able to listen to Psvane Acme 2A3 in a very nice headphone amp recently. We swapped through several NOS tubes also. I was impressed by the Acmes. They were right there with the best NOS tubes in that amp, that day. It's good to see warrantied current production tubes that compete with anything out there!
We compared the KR 211 and the acme 211. Previously we had done a compare with KR and ordinary psvane. The KR was quite superior. Compared to the acme, the KR was still better but the delta was less. NOS tubes like RCA, GE, and Ampex are all better than the KR. I would like to compare the Elrog
Great reading. I am just setting up my secondary system with a LM 805-ia and the Cube Audio Bliss C as the room for this system is rather small. Tube rolling will be for later.
I have a new No. 2 in my personal "favorite Rectifier for Lampi DACs List"
The ACME 274b pushed the RK 5u4g from the second place to the third.
Absolutely great sounding Recti.
Thanks for the excellent tip @Golum
ACME? I was believing it is AKNEBTW would you somehow have a feeling it kind of blends well with more output tubes types then RK one or let me change the question is it more for forgiving somehow then RK as i have this feeling about it...
I copied your question into the Lampi Tube Rolling thread and answered there because I think it fits better in that thread. I hope this is ok for you...
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...lling-review-thread.26478/page-27#post-618652
I get the feeling the Acme 274B has less gain than most, if not all, of the other tubes I have tried. Lending itself to mate well with more output tubes and thus more preamps.
BTW would you somehow have a feeling it kind of blends well with more output tubes types then RK one or let me change the question is it more for forgiving somehow then RK as i have this feeling about it...
Overall gain of the DAC seems reduced relatively speaking. Hope that clarifies it.
I would be interested in purchasing a Line Magnetic LM-219IA integrated amplifier. I have read the opinions of various owners who claim to notice significant improvements by replacing the original 12ax7 valve with NOS telefunken. @ Saleh84 where did you buy your telefunken? The price?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Faggella,
Actually the seller (Robert) had a pair which he sold to me with the amp. Later after trying many other 12ax7s and realising the telefunkan sounded the most balanced, most transparent yet fluid, also with the lowest noise floor, I wanted a 2nd pair to keep for future, but found out the pair he gave me was his last. He said when he get his hands on another he will let me know. Only then i realized that NOS 12xa7 telefunkans are not that common or easy to find as matched pair in good condition and priced fairly on top of that. In all fairness i haven't tried really to search hard, so maybe they are available somewhere. However I'm good for now, hope Robert later can find me some to keep as spare later on. I won't risk buying something of Ebay that i don't know much about tbh.
Out of new production tubes,The shuguang 12ax7 black bottles were not bad at all, but compared to the telefunkan i sensed a slight harshness. There were more clearly defined edges but not in the best way if you could understand what i mean, could be my system, or maybe due to not enough break in? I have yet to try it for longer to judge.
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