I have been going through a similar process as our friend, MadFloyd, in deciding on another line stage; I like the midrange 'voicing' of the Lamm L2, but the bass was rolled off and the overall presentation was a little dark. (Perhaps not a bad thing with horns, but I wanted to open the system up, get more bandwidth and not lose the midrange 'rightness' that the L2 possesses). I have not gone through all the various line stages that MadFloyd has, nor do I have the complications over trying different amplifiers. I am extremely happy with the original Lamm ML2 amplifiers, which work beautifully with the Avantgardes - they have that 'continuousness' and harmonic richness (without tube bloat) that makes for a very 'un-reproduced' sound.
I am now using the latest generation of the Veloce line stage, with the DR supertubes. It runs from lithium batteries, and despite the outward appearance being essentially the same, is different in design and sound than the original Veloce (which i had in my system briefly a month or so ago). This thing sounds very right to my ears, and the frequency extremes are presented of a piece with an open, natural midrange. The bass, never something that has been easy to sort out on the Avantgardes, is far tauter and deeper (if indeed it is in the recording to begin with). What most impresses,though, is the sheer dynamic ability of this thing- not something for which battery powered devices are known. My AC is not 'bad' and I eliminated any form of line conditioning quite a while ago, but with horns of 104db efficiency, if there is any nastiness on the power line, you can be sure you will hear it.
I'm still running the Allnic H3000 as a phono stage, and the combination is lively, tonally correct and incredibly dynamic. I have sorted out the tube situation with the Allnic (I think the NOS Siemens just needed a week to burn in and their initial brightness is now gone). I like good quality recordings, but listen to a lot of 'regular' pressings too, and of course I'm hearing the good, the bad and the ugly, but on a record that has the goods, the system is greater than the sum of its parts. (The Amina Claudine Myers recording of Bessie Smith tunes is a marvel right now- I play piano, and know what a real, large grand piano sounds like. The decay is right, the way the piano changes character, not just frequency, at different registers, comes through clearly, along with her pedal work and you can hear the upper registers 'sing' harmonically as real pianos do in real space).
I have cheated in one respect- I have a stretch of K-S Elation terminated as XLR running between the phono and line stages, in place of the K-S Emotion, which were terminated as RCAs (the Lamm line stage would not accept an XLR input). I have another piece of K-S Emotion, also terminated in XLR, to compare against so I can hear the difference between the Emotion and Elation in the same configuration, but I suspect the Elation will probably wind up staying in the system.
More to come, including some pictures. I opened the Veloce, to get at the output switches, because I was hearing a slight grounding noise (nothing new in my system- everytime I change components, i have to chase down grounding issues, something I hope the eventual installation of the big Equi=Tech wall unit will
eventually minimize, if not eliminate.) I still haven't figured out the grounding problem- it seems to have vanished, inexplicably. (I know exactly what lights or plug in appliances in the house create problems, and it wasn't any of those). So, right now, dead quiet backgrounds, lucid, open midrange and lot's of music on the bottom and top that was a little rolled off with the Lamm L2 in place.
After I removed the top cover from the Veloce, I decided to leave it off; no noise or RF problems. The thing is absolutely gorgeous inside. I covered with it a big slab of plexi, courtesy of Alvin from Grand Prix; it was a Grand Prix shelf that got replaced, along with a number of others, by the carbon fiber ones, years ago.
Those of you who are going to the RMAF should say hello to the Veloce guys. I met them both and they are good guys who are building some incredible gear.
I am now using the latest generation of the Veloce line stage, with the DR supertubes. It runs from lithium batteries, and despite the outward appearance being essentially the same, is different in design and sound than the original Veloce (which i had in my system briefly a month or so ago). This thing sounds very right to my ears, and the frequency extremes are presented of a piece with an open, natural midrange. The bass, never something that has been easy to sort out on the Avantgardes, is far tauter and deeper (if indeed it is in the recording to begin with). What most impresses,though, is the sheer dynamic ability of this thing- not something for which battery powered devices are known. My AC is not 'bad' and I eliminated any form of line conditioning quite a while ago, but with horns of 104db efficiency, if there is any nastiness on the power line, you can be sure you will hear it.
I'm still running the Allnic H3000 as a phono stage, and the combination is lively, tonally correct and incredibly dynamic. I have sorted out the tube situation with the Allnic (I think the NOS Siemens just needed a week to burn in and their initial brightness is now gone). I like good quality recordings, but listen to a lot of 'regular' pressings too, and of course I'm hearing the good, the bad and the ugly, but on a record that has the goods, the system is greater than the sum of its parts. (The Amina Claudine Myers recording of Bessie Smith tunes is a marvel right now- I play piano, and know what a real, large grand piano sounds like. The decay is right, the way the piano changes character, not just frequency, at different registers, comes through clearly, along with her pedal work and you can hear the upper registers 'sing' harmonically as real pianos do in real space).
I have cheated in one respect- I have a stretch of K-S Elation terminated as XLR running between the phono and line stages, in place of the K-S Emotion, which were terminated as RCAs (the Lamm line stage would not accept an XLR input). I have another piece of K-S Emotion, also terminated in XLR, to compare against so I can hear the difference between the Emotion and Elation in the same configuration, but I suspect the Elation will probably wind up staying in the system.
More to come, including some pictures. I opened the Veloce, to get at the output switches, because I was hearing a slight grounding noise (nothing new in my system- everytime I change components, i have to chase down grounding issues, something I hope the eventual installation of the big Equi=Tech wall unit will
eventually minimize, if not eliminate.) I still haven't figured out the grounding problem- it seems to have vanished, inexplicably. (I know exactly what lights or plug in appliances in the house create problems, and it wasn't any of those). So, right now, dead quiet backgrounds, lucid, open midrange and lot's of music on the bottom and top that was a little rolled off with the Lamm L2 in place.
After I removed the top cover from the Veloce, I decided to leave it off; no noise or RF problems. The thing is absolutely gorgeous inside. I covered with it a big slab of plexi, courtesy of Alvin from Grand Prix; it was a Grand Prix shelf that got replaced, along with a number of others, by the carbon fiber ones, years ago.
Those of you who are going to the RMAF should say hello to the Veloce guys. I met them both and they are good guys who are building some incredible gear.
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