sonic frontiers line 2 break in?

My pre-amp sounded the same way when I first got it. I was sick! Figured I had make a mistake by purchasing it. I suggest you leave it on for a few days then check back. Sonic Frontier makes great pre-amps. My pre-amp was lifeless, sterile and had a very swallow soundstage at first. But after about 50 hours, it really loosened up. After 100 hours, it was fully broken in. I do not have the same brand as you but I now what you are going thru. Thinks will get better.

Are shutting it off? It might take a week for it to recover from a total turn off. I just bought a Line 2 SE and it sounded great out of the box and gets better every day. Maybe it's your amp? I am using a Plinius SA100, which sounded great with my Plinius M16 preamp. It's sounds phenominal with the SFL2SE. Is the amp the only thing you changed in your system? SF gear is going to bring out the best and the worst in your source also. It might also be a bad tube.

I have been leaving my whole system on for two days now, I don't leave the music playing when I am not home though. My system sounded great with the demo model cj it was sad to have to return it. I am hoping this sfl2 will open up.

Bigwavedave, whats the rest of your gears?
I was asking because 1201byl maybe right as SF Line 2 is very tranparent that you really can't hide anything from it.
I find the SF line series to be either you love it or hate it,due to it's ruthless nature of revealing everything.

I have a line 2SE myself that I bought a couple of months ago.I remember when I was breaking it in that it sounded like it has a head cold exactly like you described. I left it running for at 48 hrs straight (low volume)without listening to it, I was able to do it that long because I was so disapointed with my initial impression.

It was Saturday morning when I listened to it again.Oh Men,I'm saying to myself,"This is the Sonic Frontiers Line 2 SE that I was expecting" Everything just clicked.I absolutely love this preamp.

If your unit doesn't open up after 48 hrs of straight play I would suggest checking your tubes.

The rest of my gears if you're interested are
EMC 1,Line 2 SE,Krell FPB 200,Thiel 3.6,
NBS monitor series and Siltech cabling.FIM and NBS PCs.

Thanks for the ideas, I kept the cd player going while I was at work today on repeat mode and It is already opening up. I must say I was really bummed out when I first hooked it up but It is starting to sound like the unit I read about in the reviews, thanks goodness. I thought maybe I made a bad choice, it is such a hassle buying gear and having to return it or resell it, especially when you have high hopes of improvement. I have read alot about tube upgrades and the special edition versions come with nos tubes I can't wait to dabble it this area in the future.

I had similar first impressions when I plugged in my SF line 2. However, the pre-amp totally changed my system for the better after 100 hours. Btw, I also upgraded to Valvos tubes. I can't complain everytime I pop in Eva Cassidy's Evening at the Blues CD. Hang in there and don't give up yet.

My Line 2SE came with Siemens 6Dj8, the one with a falcon insignia on the back and steel pins. They sound good but was not quite great, I started tube rolling and since I purchased my unit from Kevin Deal, I got the opportunity to try some real good tubes from him at his recommendations.
I ended up with a Siemens 7308 which just made the sound just right.Be careful when buying tubes because their's a lot of fake or near end of life tubes out there.
Goodluck.