Hi,
I want to add that I replace stock wires in signal path with Duelund silver hook up 2 wires. Just make sharp point of Duelund silver hook up 2 wires and solder it to PCB board.
It improves Light Speed Attenuator's sound to next level in term of transparency, 3D image and speed (PRaT).
I hope that George will think of launching Light Speed Attenuator Signature model with high quality parts (all pure silver wires and connectors in signal path) and premium luxury chassis to capture another audiophile segment. Because this audiophile segment have a lot money and just sound quality of equipment from luxury chassis. I bet that Light Speed Attenuator can challenge many top brand preamp if using in system with no problem of misimpedance matching and no problem of gain. |
Hope this information will be helpful. Yes, very, Vyokyong. And motivating as well. I've been meaning to do this for quite awhile--now is the time? |
Thanks Marqmike,
Yes, I will. |
Thanks for the heads up on that Vyokong. Give us some more impressions after you have had them a couple of months. Thanks again. |
Hi,
I just modded Light speed attenuator by replacing stock RCA jack with WBT 0210-Ag RCA "Next Gen" Pure Silver in signal path, Female Jack. I have modded my Zen Mystery Amp by replacing stock RCA jack with WBT 0210-Ag (Ms - metal nut) RCA "Next Gen" Pure Silver in signal path, Female Jack. And sonic improvement is huge in term of transparency, transient and micro-details. Then I want Light Speed Attenuator to be modded same thing.
This is instruction from George of how to replacing stock RCA jacks.
below are the opening instruction, if you change the rca’s they must be full bodied metal, as they have to have electrical contact from their body (which is earth) to the Lightspeed chassis on all 4 rca’s.
1: Remove two only top screws at the back
2: remove all 4 screws at the front.
3: Pull out front panel and bezel only about 10mm and lower.
4: Slide top plate out from the front.
But the RCA jack WBT Next Gen Silver 0210-Ag body is plastic, not metal. So that they cannot be ground through chassis contacting point at cut whole bare metal. Then I use silver wire to connect all ground point of RCA jack of both in put RCAs and out put RCAs and ground to chassis at one point only.
Result is that my Hi Fi system can play louder than before. It may be 1-2 dB or easily to hear different loud. Second both hi and low frequency is more extend with better dynamics contrast. The improvement is dramatic better and it is worth every penny to replace stock RCA by WBT RCA jack of pure silver in signal path.
However I think that using direct wire to connect between ground or negative points of both in put RCAs and out put RCAs together has affected better sonic improvement. (instead of using back panel aluminum plate as ground path). The Light speed attenuator owner can do simple modification of Light speed attenuator by using good quality wire to connect all RCAs ground together to improve the sound quality.
Hope this information will be helpful. |
I've now been using the Lightspeed attenuator for some weeks with my Accuphase P-500 Amp; and I must say that I am pretty amazed and very happy with the sound quality! I would define it as very "clear" or "transparent", which fits my taste.
As I'm using the LSA on my main system, I will certainly add an input switch just to make it more convenient to use on a "normal" day.
I don't know if this is the best pre-amp ever (I just don't have the means to compare with other real contenders), but I'm convinced that for that price it would be damn hard to find something that comes close to this sound quality. |
Hi,
I am using Lightspeed Attenuator for 3 weeks already and want to share my impression here.
My system are;
Audio Note DAC 3.1 custom modded TC Reference MBX. by Bill Baker, Response Audio.with two separate mono power supply unit as same as preamp L2, Mac Mini, Offramp 5 USB convertor, DIY Duelund wire RCA IC, XLO Purple Rush power cord
Zen Mystery Amp. MIT Oracle RCA IC. Synergistic Research Tesla Reference power cable.
Avalon Avatar speakers. MIT Oracle speaker cable.
Hydra 8. ZSB. Kubala Sosna Emotion PC.
I have modded my Decware Zen Mystery amp by removing volume pot out of signal path. It improves much substantial transparency and dynamics to my system. I don't use any preamp. The source Audio Note DAC is connected directly to Zen Mystery amp. So that I need to have volume control for my amp. I read a lot forum about active premap, passive preamp and all types of volume control from volume pot, shunt resistor volume pot, Auto Transformer volume control (ATVC) and Lightspeed attenuator. My decision to go with Lightspeed attenuator.
I love my system to have amp connected directly to source, no preamp. The sound is fabulous. I temporarily use digital volume control in Pure Music software while Lightspeed attenuator was not arrived yet. The digital volume control is acceptable but still creates some sound distortion that you can hear.
When Lightspeed attenuator arrives, I connect it between my amp and source as a preamp. I hardly hear any different between having lightspeed attenuator in my system and without it in my system. It is so transparency. I give 99.5% transparency to directly connecting between amp and source. The 0.5% transparency short is for need of extra one interconnect cable which affects on sound quality. I am very happy and highly recommend to use Lightspeed attenuator as your preamp if you love your amp directly connecting with your source. Or your source has a very excellent sound and you don't want preamp to change its sound quality. And your system don't have any impedance mismatch with Lighspeed attenuator.
For active preamp, therea re some benefits because there are two more functions in active preamp which passive preamp does not have;
1) Gain stage function. Its function is to increase voltage of signal to improve loud and dynamics of system.
2) Buffer stage, its function is to prevent impedance system mismatch. If your source sound is harsh, buffer stage may help to reduce harsh sound.
Then active preamp is benefit for some hifi system.
You select the best for your system. |
This is my first post on Audiogon. I rarely post anything anywhere and I’ve never before posted a review of an audio product. However, I feel that the Lightspeed attenuator is unique enough to justify an exception on my side. So, simply put, I would like to share my personal impressions and my recent experience with the Lightspeed Attenuator.
I will not tire you with an extended background of why and when I decided to buy the Lightspeed attenuator. I also believe that every theoretical explanation or technical detail has been discussed in this thread by now.
So, I’ll get right to the point when I attached the Lightspeed Attenuator to my CD player on one end and to my amp on the other end and played some music (Ayre CX-7e, EAR 534, respectively).
To me, it was evident from the first minute that the music sounded more relaxed, less harsh (especially in the highs), cleaner and the system sounded more transparent.
It was as if the noise floor has dropped and more details came up to the surface, so to speak.
To my relief, I could not hear any signs of stress or degradation in dynamics or in anything else for that matter.
To be certain that I wasn’t fooling myself, I asked my wife to come and have a listen, without telling her what to listen for. She also noticed a cleaner sound overall, more details (although she was not sure about that), but said it was a pleasure listening to the music (that is, more than ever before).
We then had a back to back comparison against my current preamp (EAR 834L), which confirmed our observations.
Honestly, I had my doubts and was not sure that my system would benefit from (any) passive preamp. I heard in the past passive preamps that didn't do good to a system, more than once. I am happy to find out that the Lightspeed Attenuator simply improved my system in a very noticeable way.
This is definitely the best value-for-money upgrade I have ever experienced, and probably one of the most significant and exciting. Well, it seems that this is it – I have crossed the line from active to passive :-) and I am not going back!
Thank you George for this beautiful product and thank you for all the support, patience and courtesy, I truly appreciate it. |
Just a closer explanation of the LED subject.
An LED (light emitting diode)is probably the worlds most reliable active component if it's kept at or below it's max rating. Ever seen one blow?
And in the Lightspeed Attenuator they can never get to more than 80% of their max ratings, even at min or max level where their getting their max current.
BTW we have spell check now on this forum, yay to the administrators.
Cheers George
|
You are semi right Roy, each package of the quad matched set has a 1 x led and 1 x ldr inside it.
But it is the led part that will light up at close to it's specified max brightest when the volume is min or max, this is why at half volume it lights up at half brightness.
Cheers George |
George, I very much appreciate your answer to my questions. I hope that your explanations also provide help to others. |
I may have used the wrong word when I said, octocoupler instead of LDR. My apologies to George. |
Hi Roy. Sorry about the delay in answering, I've been busy making them.
There is no advantage in leaving it on 24/7, in fact if it is not used for a while, I "suggest" it be de-powered. As I've only had a couple out of the close to 1000 units made returned that were taken out along with other components in the system due to spikes from storms, lightening strike or brownouts etc..
If it is left on and not used, I do "suggest" that the volume be left at the mid position, as it halves the led (not the ldr) brightness of the series and shunt led’s.
Because if it is at minimum or full, the shunt or series led will be at just below it's maximum full brightness, even though it is said that an led last for tens of years at full brightness.
As for your email regarding if a used genuine Lightspeed Attenuator your looking at is a MkI or Mk11, it can be only a MkII, as all genuine Lightspeed MkI's manufactured earlier were converted to MkII status. There are only clones of the Lightspeed that can be MkI or do not have quad matched sets of led/ldr's.
Cheers George |
Can someone explain the advantage of leaving the LSA turned on 24/7 with the knob at 12:00? I recall reading somewhere that this is what George recommends. It may have something to do with the longevity of the octocouplers. |
I have to say after connecting it my Berning ZH270 it has a lot of Wow factor to it. First thing you notice is the huge soundstage. The Berning and the lightspeed are a match made in heaven. The Berning needs a better attenuator and the lightspeed brings it big time in dynamics, bass and most importantly for me is control. My Tannoy Golds are playing like everything that I have read about them and their ability to produce beautiful music. I am presently awaiting the capacitor upgrade I did on the phono section that I have and will let you know then what I think. I primarily listen to vinyl but have been streaming music via Sonos and Spotify. If the music sounds this good then I can't wait to get my phono back and listen to it then. I never thought the volume control could impact the sound that much but I was completely wrong!!!
Thanks,
Van |
I am enjoying the recent discourse and thought I'd add something.
Years ago I had a very decent system,Acoustat model 3 with medallion transformer,Conrad Johnson MV75A-1 and Conrad Premier two pre.Cd wasn't around yet, so I listened to an Oracle TT, Fidelity research arm and Cart and a Verion MC Step up and a Janus sub.
One recording I enjoyed was the Dafos lp,especially the jungle track.
I have never heard more depth since from any other systems I've assembled, perhaps I should have stopped then.
Now I am using 3 panel Acoustat X monitors with their servo charged tube amps(modded)the LSA and an SME 10,V, and clearaudio combo into a Manley steelhead.
I miss that "illusion" of depth from days gone by, but I enjoy the clarity and preciseness of what I'm hearing now.
So,I would agree that some pieces of gear can alter how the music is reproduced in our homes, but none of us know just what the correct version is.
Was that illusion of depth due to distortions or phase shifts in the Premier Two that are absent in the LSA?
Of course not a fair comparison, there are too many other differences between the two systems to say that it was all preamp dependant.
Getting to the point, it's obvious to us all that everything is an illusion and it's all about trade-offs and what appeals to one person may not to another.
As someone said, that's why there's vanilla and chocolate.
And that's why some swear allegiance to tubes and some to solid state.
I've been fooled more than once into thinking I had gotten my sound to be "as good as it gets" only to be pleasantly surpriced when a new device or tweak proved that statement wrong.
Then again, has anyone ever really heard it "as good as it gets"?
I don't think so, and I doubt anyone ever will.
I enjoy the effortless clarity that the LSA brings to the table.
For me it's like a more direct link to the music,almost as if it's not even there in the mix of gear.
It may lack some of the sonic fireworks I and others have come to expect from audio gear, but then again, who knows what is and isn't the best reproduced sound?
Until the audio community can agree on a benchmark set of parameters other than specs for specs sake,all things will be all things to all men. |
09-21-14: Georgelofi
Maybe then for those people they should be using 100 band parametric equalizers, but then that's just adding even more electronics with their associated colourations and distortions.
And then instead of hearing the music in it's "naked glory" we are hearing sterilized distortion infused approximation. That would be a redundant gesture as much of the manipulation has already been done for you....:\ 09-21-14: Georgelofi
I know Grannyring you and Agear love your $6K TRL dude active preamp full of massive coupling capacitors that the signal has to pass through. As you both have come on strong about it very early in this thread once before.
I don't own a Dude anymore (Viva Solista integrated) so no premeditation or subconscious agenda here. I just don't agree with you. It seems there is a bit of a dude vendetta surge happening again. The late Pubul57 who started this thread warned me with an disturbing eyebrow raising email he sent to me a about you guys before he passed away RIP Paul. I tangled with Paul on this and other threads, but he always handled himself with intelligence and philosophical grace. RIP. |
Accept your apology George. All is good and we can move on enjoying this site. |
Swampwalker you have PM.
I may have included Grannyring wrongly I'm not sure now, (very sorry if I did Grannyring).
Cheers George |
Swampwalker,
Very well stated post that reflects maturity, honesty and wisdom. There's a lot to be said for decorum and grace.
Charles, |
George- I own an LSA which I use in a second system and have swapped it in for my Doshi in my big rig and it acquits itself very well. I think it's one of the best values in audio, providing 80% of the performance for 5% of the cost. But you're not doing yourself any favors by posting "reviews" that your customers have sent you. IMO, they have no business in the forums. Buy an ad or put them up on your web site. Just like ads (explicit or implicit) for items for sale are not appropriate. And I believe that Paul (Pubul57) would be disappointed to see you invoke his memory to justify rudeness. Paul was always unfailing polite in any of his web postings. IIRC he felt as I do that your LSA is one of the ultimate value products and hit his sweet spot for price:performance when paired w the RM-10 amp for his Merlins but I don'.t think he would ever have said it was better than ANY active nor would he have approved of your suggesting that he had made disparaging comments about Grannyring, Agear or anyone else. He had more than class than that. Your passion for your product, your technical achievement and your generosity in sharing the design details w the DIY community are quite extraordinary. If others
don't see on things the same way you do, that's OK. That's why god invented chocolate AND vanilla.
Really. The LSA speaks for itself to anyone who listen is to it. |
Back to responding to Lightspeed owners posts, after being sidetracked about my own system which I did in laymans terms, which is far to complicated to explain in full here, and not the right thread either. 09-12-14: Gracerev
I just got the Lightspeed Attenuator. It came quite simply but securely packaged. The design is pleasant and solidly built. Was excited as I've read so much about it in the forums. Wanted to see if all the hype was for real.
After running in for about 4 days, I can honestly say it has lived up to the hype. Through my Esoteric transport/Bricasti DAC, which itself was already very transparent, the Lightspeed made the music flow even more freely - there was more detail, greater sense of ambience. Even at low volumes, the music just flowed. Quite remarkable. The staging is wider than my original set up. Bass was articulate, and voices were very life like. Instrument timber and inner details shone.
Overall, I'm a very satisfied customer. Amazing sound at any price. Yet the price is A$470 which makes it the best value component of my system.
Gracerev (System | Answers | This Thread) Very nice system you have there Gracerv. Bricasti M1 DA converter
Esoteric P02 CD Player
Lightspeed Attenuator Lightspeed Attenuator Preamplifier
Krell KAV500 Amplifier
Meridian 861 V4 Surround Pre
SVS PB13 Ultra Subwoofer
Wisdom M50 Speaker
Meridian DSP-6000 Speaker
Meridian DSP-5500 Speaker
Meridian DSP-5500 Speaker
Main System
Pretty much done for now.
Meridian system for Home Theater.
Esoteric/Bricasti/Lightspeed/Krell for CD playback. Thanks for your informed review, you are on my list should any upgrades become availible to the MkII Lightspeed in the future. Cheers George |
Your Dude comment is strange and out of place. Sorry to see it and sorry you just will not have a nice and reasonable conversation and back and forth.
My feelings and passion for audio go far beyond the box you placed me in. This is also true of others you commented on. Read all I review and post about. Most disappointing George. |
I know Grannyring you and Agear love your $6K TRL dude active preamp full of massive coupling capacitors that the signal has to pass through. As you both have come on strong about it very early in this thread once before.
It seems there is a bit of a dude vendetta surge happening again. The late Pubul57 who started this thread warned me with an disturbing eyebrow raising email he sent to me a about you guys before he passed away RIP Paul.
As for Nelson Pass's thoughts on passive preamps, I present to you once again, his quote on the subject in case you missed it before..
Nelson Pass, "We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.
Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.
Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.
What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.
And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."
Cheers George |
George as I have shared with you in the past I respect you and your passion. While I do think you can be tad narrow in your view of other ways to attain fidelity, I nevertheless enjoy your helping spirit and enthusiasm.
I would love Mr. Pass to share with us if he thinks his expensive and wonderful active line stages sound better to him compared to a passive like the LSA. Would he say your passive is as good or better sounding? Forget features, as I am just talking about sound quality and how live and real it sounds. I think he would say his best actives sound more like the real thing if asked this direct question. Love to hear his comment on this one comparison question.
I know there is technically no need for an active as passives like yours can sound good indeed. Seems the very best attempts at SOTA music within a stereo system often times involve great actives...not always.
What about the recording engineers of the world? Should they be eliminating gain stages? Fact is eliminating these gain stages does impact dynamics. High frequencies compress all together so you can hear everything at the same level. The background noise is just as loud as the voice etc...This is just an example of properly executed gain stages and their importance.
My experience is not one proving my tube active colors the sound to my taste. You have said this often, but that is simply not the case George. For me, and based on my experience with with TRL Dude compared to the LSA, color had little to do with it.
The dynamic impact of whole performance and individual part becomes more live and real sounding with the Dude. The relative volume, layering, placement, impact, of each instrument to the other on the stage are captured with greater fidelity with the Dude. These are not subjective color preferences, rather they are the nuances that make a stereo system sound like real, live music.
I don't point this out to somehow prove my active is better than the LSA for all, but in an effort to have a broader discourse on the different roads to fidelity to the music. No absolutes and an open mind on other possibilities. |
Maybe then for those people they should be using 100 band parametric equalizers, but then that's just adding even more electronics with their associated colourations and distortions.
And then instead of hearing the music in it's "naked glory" we are hearing sterilized distortion infused approximation. |
Looks like a very nice and well thought out system. I do not follow some of your acronyms so more detail would help. I have owned the two CD players you mention and love ESL speakers.
I bet your system is very enjoyable and because you built/modified it to your liking even more satisfying.
I have modified my system to deliver exactly what I want over time and also like to work on gear.
Enjoy. |
Thanks for your response George. Interesting regarding your source's lack of negative feedback (NFB). The builder of my Japanese DAC made it a "high priority" to avoid (NFB) in his circuit design. Your system must provide you much joy.
Charles, |
If you are really interested in what I have, or maybe others are, here it is.
I won't go into the TT but for my digital source, I only listen to Redbook or HDCD Redbook.
The main digital is nothing that you can buy off the shelf, it's 2R2 multibit based, with a very special I/V stages and class A output buffer, all zero feedback completely dc coupled.
I also have which sound great as well, stock Cary 303/200 and Cal CL15 cdp's, both R2R multibit based units, direct coupled with hdcd capablity as well.
No capacitor coupling (no capacitors anywhere in the signal path in the whole system) from the da converter chips outputs right through to the output of the amps.
Speakers are Ionic Plasma tweeters down to 8khz, big electrostatics similar alumininum vapour deposited pannels as the new Martin Logan Neolith down to 150hz, and ACI SV12 driver based subs down to -3db at 20hz.
Amps are big BJT output class A S/S direct coupled for the Plasma/ESL's, and big BJT output direct coupled A/B s/s for the bass.
And of course, a Lightspeed Attenuator to control the volume.
Cheers George |
Hi George,
I and I'm sure other interested people here would sincerely appreciate if you'd kindly list your source. If it's flawless(or nearly so) there are many who would be happy and grateful to duplicate this admirable achievement.
Thanks very much,
Charles, |
09-19-14: Georgelofi
It all starts with the source, in your equipment.
It sounds very good to me, and I have no wish to change it's sound or colour it in any way.
Cheers George When I hear "source," I think source material. Do "we" really want to hear all our poorly recorded and mastered music in their naked glory? I think that is one reason why people spend so much time and energy fiddling with dacs and pre-amps. |
What is your source? Analog or digital? I agree that the source is most important George. I currently have an Aesthetix Romulus Signature dac/CD player. I very much like it. |
It all starts with the source, in your equipment.
It sounds very good to me, and I have no wish to change it's sound or colour it in any way.
Cheers George |
Wow, you have the perfect source! Please let me know what it is. Also, please let me know the perfect speaker, amp, and well you already have the perfect preamp.
No kidding. I really want to know what you consider perfect beyond your passive. |
Your generalizing. All sources are not flawed, maybe just the ones you've listened to are.
So instead of getting a source you like, you colour the source you have that you don't like the sound of with an active preamp.
This is a mine field of trial and error and can end up costing a substantial amount. That's fine to go about it that way, but it never ever be as transparent as no active preamp.
Cheers George
|
You know I said all sources are flawed and they are for sure. Nothing in audio is perfect unfortunately. |
OK, don't get your back up, you just admitted you don't like the sound of your source and you wish to colour it with your Dude active tube preamp, enough said.
And yes Nelson Pass is a businessman as well, and one of very few of the very best audio designers ever, and it's a brave man to try to call him out, but he calls a spade a spade and tells it like it is as well, as his testament to passive preamps state two of my posts back.
Cheers George |
Nelson Pass has made and is making some pretty expensive actives.Very expensive. Apparenty he thinks they sound very real. If not, one would say he is not being true to himself and we customers. He sells these expensive actives touting neutrality, fidelity etc...
I don't want to hear what the source sounds like because it is also flawed. A total system is all one can judge George.
Always look forward to your audio religion. |
I've said many times, and also Nelson Pass in my last post above in so many words.
If your after to change/colour the sound of the source, don't look at the Lightspeed or most passives, go with an active preamp.
As all active preamps sound different to one another, none sound transparent like a "straight piece of wire", only passives or direct can do that.
The only trouble is finding the right active preamp with the right colouration, or combination of colourations that suits what you are trying to achieve. And this gets very costly.
But if you want to hear exactly what your source sounds like you want your preamp to be "true" to that sources sound, and not colour it in any way. Then passive preamps are for you. Then it's up to your amp and speakers to give what you need.
Cheers George |
Ha! Love your comments George. As you know I have tried your passive three times, but just prefer my tube active. But, I do like the way your passive sounds and it is a killer value. Just not as real sounding as my active.
I soooo wanted to like your passive as much to save money and simplify.
I tried three times as I really hoped everything I see here would be true for me. I have no bias to spend more money or take up more space:)
Glad to see so many happy LS owners and the thread staying so vibrant. This is a good thing for all us Aphiles. |
No nothing going to waste Finn (Andrew) as you have 100kohm input impedance on your amp, so it doesn't mater where the volume is set on the Lightspeed you are getting great impedance matching still over the entire range.
This is a classic quote from Nelson Pass.
(proclaimed god of audio)
"We’ve got lots of gain in our electronics. More gain than some of us need or want. At least 10 db more.
Think of it this way: If you are running your volume control down around 9 o’clock, you are actually throwing away signal level so that a subsequent gain stage can make it back up.
Routinely DIYers opt to make themselves a “passive preamp” - just an input selector and a volume control.
What could be better? Hardly any noise or distortion added by these simple passive parts. No feedback, no worrying about what type of capacitors – just musical perfection.
And yet there are guys out there who don’t care for the result. “It sucks the life out of the music”, is a commonly heard refrain (really - I’m being serious here!). Maybe they are reacting psychologically to the need to turn the volume control up compared to an active preamp."
Cheers George |
Hi all, I should clarify that the slagleformer pre suffered similar downsides, being very basic and also being quite loud on low settings. The Slagleformers modules are available with, I think, another 12db attenuation which was an avenue I was exploring. The volume issue is not a big issue... I can still play music at levels I want to most of the time. Its probably psychological more than anything, a feeling there is something going to waste or not fully utilised until the volume is at 9 oclock or so and a niggling but uninformed concern that passives and actives work best in the middle of their operating range? However both these units work very well at the bottom of their ranges, regards, Andrew |
The Lightspeed can never go to complete zero volume (there is always a whisper at min) and in rare very high gain systems such as Fins the volume will be down around 9 or 8 o'clock low for normal listening level, and this will give the impression of more "gain" than a passive that can go to complete zero level.
As "Fin" (Andrew) contacted me about this last week, he gave his system parameters to me. And as you can see below he has a s**t load of gain, with effecient speakers.
They are:
source >2.5v out
power amp <1v in.
As you can see he needs only 1 volt in to for his amp to give it's 100w full power.
And he has more than 2.5v from the source.
And because of this the Lightspeed is down low for normal listening.
Cheers George
|
That's what I thought. So how does an LDR have more gain than a TVC?
Shakey |
Some transformer passives (maybe autoformers too) have gain, usually up to +6dB. |
"Only downside apart from its very basic nature is that my system has a lot of gain so I dont get far off the bottom of the volume control travel at normal levels."
I have a question regarding this statement. How can the gain in the Slagleformers be any different than the Lightspeed since they are both passive devices?
I ask this question because I own a Sonic Euphoria PLC and recently made some system changes that has me running at the absoulte extremes on the attenuator. I don't really want to move back into an active preamp because I haven't heard one under 10K that can beat a good passive.
Any thoughts on what the Lightspeed is doing differently?
Shakey |
Hello all, I purchased one of these units (second hand) recently and have been surprised at how much of an improvement the Lightspeed appears to be over all my previous preamps. I have owned some well regarded solid state and valve preamps but for the last few years have been moving into passives. I like the quietness and lack of an electronic signature that they bring. A Silk transformer TVC was followed by a Slagleformer module based pre which I thought was about as good as it could get in terms of naturalness and detail with no loss of dynamics.
Well the lightspeed has pushed out the boundaries considerably. It transmits even more low level detail which seems to expand and flesh out the soundstage. High frequencies are very extended. Tonal colour is enriched and there is more space around voices and instruments. I have not noticed any loss of dynamics or bass which was a strong point of the Slagleformers. Only downside apart from its very basic nature is that my system has a lot of gain so I dont get far off the bottom of the volume control travel at normal levels.
It is a remarkable unit even ignoring the modest price and I scratch my head at the increase in signal transmitted by, as I understand it , the removal of one less than direct connection(the volume control). Should we therefore be soldering our speaker wires to the amps and speakers etc.? Or is this a different issue.
Either way I am very glad I made this purchase.
Regards, Andrew |
That's a real shame Banquo363, I was looking forward to the boxing match with the Lightspeed.
You know for the past 7 years I have sent hundreds of Lightspeeds all around the world, even to places like Guam!! and not one has been lost or damaged. I guess I must owe my thanks by sending registered Australia Post.
Please let us know how the phono sounds with the Lightspeed Attenuator anyway.
Cheers George |
Either I jinxed myself with my premature announcement, or else I am fated to be with the LSA for the rest of my audiophile life: see here for the gruesome details. |
I've been a long time user and advocate of the LSA. I never contemplated replacing it, but I wanted to try a new phono stage and ended up with this one. It uses what Sony called the 'zp-1 perfect balancer' as volume control (sealed, gold plated contacts, made by alps). The Sony has a lot of knobs and is the opposite of George's spartan design. I look forward to noting the differences. The good thing about the Sony is that if I don't like its volume control I can bypass it and run it through the LSA instead (at least that's what I was told). At 1kohm, the output impedance is kind of high for the LSA. But I used to run a phono stage with the LSA that was even higher--with no problems. At any rate, will report back. |
