Line Magnetic 501-a gold? any experience?

This is supposed to be a great amp. I own their Silver Series El34 integrated, the 211 IA. I assume this dealer (I have a good idea who it is BTW) has Leben. The Leben is supposed to be a very common pairing with Harbeth, so that may be worth a listen. My 211 is driving a pair of Spendors 3/5R's in a second system (Small room) quite successfully. Cheers -Don

I listened to the 501 Gold/Harbeth combination the other day at a delightful listening session at a local audio dealer. Source was a LM cd/dac and a variety of turntables. I was auditioning the Harbeths - the 7es3 and the SHL5 - but it was the LM that caught my attention.

The Harbeths were good: The HLF was more transparent and shimmery than the more warm and forceful 7es3. But neither made me want to give up my Reference 3A de Capo i's.

I found myself, however, fascinated by the presence and projection of the LM 501 Gold. I have a hybrid LSA Statement integrated now which I'm not giving up any time soon. However, I would heartily recommend the LM. It's beautifully designed; smooth and silky in its sound, and made musical nuances more noticeable.

A very good tube integrated with gobs of power.

I've only heard the LM 518A, which is the other amp in the gold line, using 845 tubes. It's only 22 watts, but has enough drive to power my Merlin monitors, which aren't particularly sensitive, but present a pretty benign impedance curve. Liked it so much I bought the amp and I love it.

Haven't heard the De Capos, but from what I know of them, they're not completely dissimilar to Merlin in terms of tonality. As far as the 518 goes, I'd be careful not to partner with a speaker that's at all loose in the bass, b/c it can be a little plummy with the wrong speaker. For my little
Monitors, it's by far the deepest and most tuneful bass I've ever gotten from them.

Dkidmnow, I purchased the LM 518 and the amp put out such a loud hum/buzz that I thought it might have been damaged in shipping and sent it back. They were nice enough to send me a second sample, but I had the same problem, the hum/buzz seemed to be coming from the transformer. All other tube amps I've had here have been very quiet. Have you experienced this with your 518? Anyone else?

I have the transformer hum too. My understanding is that we just have to live with it. May be a product of the power grid where we live. I wish it weren't there, but in my case, absolutely nothing comes through the speakers, and from my listening seat I only hear the hum in between tracks.

Thought I'd post an update on my experience with the LM 518. The transformer hum is gone! I've had the amp since mid February, so I'd estimate between 150 and 300 hours of play. So glad I stuck it out. Still loving the amp and just about to get serious about tube rolling. Hope this helps.

If you are experiencing transformer hum, you might want to try a DC blocker. PS Audio used to make the Humdinger to help with this, but the best option now seems to be Van Alstine's Humdinger. $125 with a 30-day return policy. So if it doesn't solve the problem, you are only out shipping (and it is a small light device.

For toroidal transformers, I highly recommend isolating the stupid thing from the printed circuit boards and electrical components using visco material under the transformer or cork or combo. Mu metal of the annealed variety should be wrapped around the transformer at least once.

I recently auditioned the LM 518 mated to a pair of Harbeth 7es-3s, the same combination Tim Smith used in his wallofsound.ca review. It sounded absolutely horrible. Congested, bloated, dull, slow, and completely devoid of any dynamics. Everything from the lower mids down was a complete mess. The dealer was apologetic and as he said, "embarrassed" that I set a Saturday aside to drive the considerable distance to hear (and not hear) this highly regarded amp that we both agreed was unlistenable. I was really wanting to love this amp and was sorely disappointed when it wasn't even close. The dealer attributed the poor sound to what did seem to be a rather pronounced echo in his listening room, however, it sounded so poorly, I wasn't convinced that could be the primary reason and declined his generous in-home audition offer. As a consequence I've since ordered the Coincident 845 SE and can't say that based on my experience, I could recommend the 518 to anyone.

I have a 501ia with aftermarket (but certified service) sub output.  I’ve had for roughly 2 years and love it.  I will likely upgrade the tubes, but it really has a warm sound to it.  I have the Harbeth HL5 plus speaker and while i love them, you are right they recreate high frequency very well with the super tweeter and that is why I’ve had to add the subwoofer to help bring better balance.  
I want to replace some tubes and upgrade my turntable from a Rega P3 trying to tease out a better mid-range.