Anyone heard the Audible Illusions L2?

To: Jimmymac

In answer to you question regarding the remote. To be honest I programmed the functions into my Marantz RC2000. What little time I spent with the AI remote was positive. It seems to work from quite far away and from extreme angles. It's a very basic unit volume an mute which is all I need.

As for sound comparisons, I haven't heard the Rogue, but I have compared it to AR, Conrad Johnson, Krell and Levinson and I wouldn't trade it for any of them. I bought my first AI in around 85. It was an affordable entry in to tubes. A this point in my life price is less an object. Frankly I would have paid 3 times the $2495. It's that good. I have very reveling system, AR VT-100 MKIII, Martin Logan SL3s and Meridian 508/28. None of the other pre-amps I tried could bring the music to life like the AI L2 does. If by some miracle you can find a dealer that will loan you one I promise you'll never bring it back.

I have had my L-2 in my system for a few months, I previously owned an L-1. My system consists of the L-2, an Adcom GFP-750, and a Legacy Hi Current (slimline) preamp. A Pass Labs Aleph 5, A C-J MV-60 And an Eagle 4 power amps. Speakers are Triangle Lyrr 222's. Well recorded vocals, strings and woodwinds are so lifelike that it's startling. the bass (to 40hz or so) is tight detailed and powerful. A plucked string bass has a good woody thunk and you can hear the strings if the recording allows! Cymbals and vibes are also very good. I haven't heard every preamp out there, but I've owned or auditioned quite a few and I doubt that there is a better one out there period. ggrimes7@attbi.com

The L2 is a great sounding line level, I bought mine from Galen Carol expecting it to sound better than my last M3A but it really shocked me off, great detail, bass and soundstage (all in a very sweet abience). It was worth the wait (four months). A frien of mine has a BAT VK-5i wich costs three times the l2 and liked mine better.
I would also like to thank Mr. Art Ferris who took care himself of a little problem my unit had, showing concern of great service also.
I hope this can help you decide in choosing one of the best preamps regarding of price.

Just got mine in. L-2 WWheehehehehewww!!! no, I know that's not descriptive enough . . . but you get the idea.
O.K here's what I've experienced so far, toying around with it a little bit.also please keep in consideration that all these type of high end devices sound better after some couple of hundred hours of brake-in.
Mine just got hooked up last saturday and running background music about 8 hours a day for 4 days.

L-2 hooked up to Aragon, WOW!!!! Bass extension is smooth, with excellent pressence, good slam . . . lots of slam!!
(Reminds me of a Threshold T series preamp I used to own)
Top end very silky, smooth, as I never experienced before from the Aragon Amplifiers (not famous for its silky top end . . . .)

Import amplifiers need a bigger input load, tried something different, and also brought out the best of these little amplifiers.

Midrange bloom is first rate surpassing easily some of the Best tubed and transistor competition.
Low frequency control and extrension are different on both amps, but the midrange . . . . so seductive on female voices Diana Krall came back to my living room and she looks good too!!
Ana Caram Came to life as her smile just beams (to use Diana's terms . . .)
A recording from RR Jim Brock (Palm Palm Girls) is so rich in textures and harmony so alive . . .
Also if you listen to Checkfield, Echoes of ancient battles, the bag pipes closing in made the hair i the back of my neck electrify and stand-out.
If you want a real test run a CHesky test disk and you'll see (I mean really see with this L-2 piece).
Very sensitive to interconnect cable choice.

Seems to like the Kimbers better than Monster, Audience, and MIT.
(I have them all here, wanna buy some used cables??)
Silver KCAG puts a special sheen to the performance, Select 1021 from Kimber seems to bring the best recreation of recording ambiance especially front to back depth perception is really good, it seems to recreate the recording environment better, the price is that it is not as incisive as the KCAG.
It really depends upon your system, how revealing and how sharp the top end will be.

Width I noticed is highly dependant on room and speaker and a combination of them.

In my opinion the L-2 is definetely a winner in 2 channel.
I know as a consumer one could spend two or three times that amount in a preamp to get this type of quality, but to get a set of qualities and the sound . . . this is got to be the best deal on the market right now.

Good luck

Gonzalo