Hiss at addition in system LAMM L2

I owned a L2 Ref 2 years ago. Had the same issue which drove me nuts. I did everything I could (bought new tubes, rebiased numerous times, changed cables, got balanced cables, moved my rack (thinking it might be and RF issue), took both isolated both pieces from the rack, swapped in another amp. You name it I tried it as I did love what it did in terms of musical presentation. Spoke to Lamm and on their advise shipped both crate "air express" from western Canada to NYC - OUCH at almost $500 return. They could not find anything wrong with it. Since it was there I had them upgrade all the toggle switches to the current version.

Got it back and still the noise but mine was more than a hiss it was more like a sizzle. Had my buddy John Wright of Museatex fame give it the once over - still the same problem.

While it bettered my resident Hovland preamp the Hovland was dead quiet in comparison. In the end I sold it. I could not justify its "issue" for what I had in it.

As Grant advises it may not be for you which was my case...

forgot to add that I threw mine on a BPT balanced conditioner and also ran it on its own dedicated 20A line - still had the problem. Got an email from a gent in Europe after I posted my findings and his L2 Ref had a similar problem. I would imagine what could be this preamp's "best" match is a Lamm amp(s) but that was not in the cards for me...

Prior to acquiring my L2 Ref I also auditioned the LL2 Deluxe and loved it. It bettered my Hovland HP-100 and did everything well. Funny enough it was as quiet as the Hovland and both were dead quiet as compared to the L2-Ref! The only reason I jumped on the L2-Ref was I thought (and maybe foolishly) it would be that much better than the LL2 deluxe which in my case it was not. Based on typical used prices IMHO the LL2 Deluxe is the darling of the Lamm line-up...

It was and I still maintain that the L2Ref is a wonderful preamp that did not work out for me. It was my first foray into a big ticket expense (at least according to my level of disposable income) that left me gun shy on making further commitments at such an expense level. I have found that an ARC LS-26 (acquired at a really great price) has fit the bill nicely. My aural memory, like many people, is short so I cannot say what differences there are between these 2 preamps as there were months between them being in my possession but the LS-26 has been a solid performer from day 1 and is not on my list of components to upgrade.