LFD NCSE Mk II Break In Period?

Hi Jayh31, I could be wrong be I think Donjr has Compact 7ES-3 which have a metal dome tweeter ( and he likes his). Conversely when I tried the NCSE mk I with my soft domed Harbeth M30's I also didn't care for the sound ( similar result to what it looks like your experience)
I possibly didn't spend enough time 'burning 'it in. ( personally not that convinced it'll make that much of a difference). But as you now have it. I would give it a bit more time just in case it does change/settle down more to your liking.
Selling it after a couple of months as opposed to a few weeks won't changed its resell value.

Jay maybe worth a look at (though terribly unfashionable!) some SS integrated amps with tone controls. Mcintosh , Accuphase and Luxman come to mind.( can you still trade exchange with your dealer?)
Complete opposite to the LFD philosophy but probable much more practical in obtaining the sounds you/all of us wants in the real world.

Hope it works out Jay. I like you have that ( indoctrinated?) audiophile fear that those extra 'filters' will destroying everything!
You can see from my system thats its the hight of the minimalist approach. No tone controls anywhere in sight!...and it does sound great.

But I'm also a frequent visiter /contributor on the Harbeth HUG forum. Where Alan Shaw really tries hard to talk some sense into us obsessive audiophiles.

I mean how much 'Purity' do we really need in our audio signals! If the end result is that on this piece of music it sounds a bit harsh or bright or too bassy when possible with a little turn of the tone knob would probably fix most of the problems we actually encounter with real world recordings and rooms with the end result being we enjoy the experience even more.... I must try it sometime!.

Luckily one of the Harbeth's (a couple are soft domed by the way) strength is that it doesn't highlight flaws on recording too much.. it is a relatively easy listening speaker.

However I still didn't (contrary to most/all opinions I accept) enjoy the LFD with them.
But then again I certainly didn't give it 200 hours playtime.
Good luck. Philip.

Yes Jay my NCSE was new and I certainly didn't give it the required?! 200 hours. Another deal breaker for me was how manual volume control had a much too restrictive useable range ( from quiet to loud was between around 7 to 8 o'clock if I remember correctly)

Interestingly and it obviously didn't put me trying the LFD I have some recollection of an rare UK HIFI plus review on an LFD int amp that commented on a particular quality ( on the cooler? side of neutral) in a particular frequency range. Can't remember exactly but maybe this is common to the range as a whole that some/most like and others/few don't?.

On paper it should have been a match made in heaven with my Harbeths and again as I mentioned before I'm very much in the minority. There are dozens of very happy LFD Harbeth users out there.. Sam Tellig at Stereophile for one.

But what I learnt the hard way is that a home audition on equipment is much the best way to go to avoid such disappointments.