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Who here uses Von Gaylord amps or other gear?

I'm curious how many 'Goners are familiar with this sleeper of a hi-fi company (formerly Legend Audio Design) that has been around for 15+ years but seldom mentioned. I have been completely enamored by their products! I recently discovered that a coworker is a fellow audiophile and he told me his system was all Von Gaylord. My first thought was, "Did you say Von GAYLORD??" But being curious, I did a search here and found a pair of Chinchilla interconnects at a reasonable price so I thought I'd give them a try. Boy was I shocked at how good the sound was! So transparent and open, airy yet rich in tone, smooth and musical but so clear and not smeared or soft at all, great bass extension and weight... I mean these cables did it all and really just blew away my Audience AU24e which I liked a lot. I found another pair of Chinchilla interconnects from a local guy and snatched them up. He happened to have some other Von Gaylord gear he was selling to upgrade and let me demo the LAD-L2 preamp. I was even more shocked than with the Chinchilla!

To make a long story short I have replaced my Conrad Johnson CT5 preamp with the LAD-L2, all of my Audience AU24e/powerChord e cabling except for speaker cables (working on that) with Chinchillas, my Luxman M-600a power amp with Nirvana monoblocks, and added the Legend speakers to my bedroom system, and they have all been substantial upgrades. I decided not to replace my Tannoy Turnberry SEs with the Legends in my main system, but that had a lot to do with the size of the room and bass extension/weight. Plus the Tannoy dual concentrics have a unique sound and timbre that I enjoy, though the Legends admittedly do most "audiophile" things better and are more detailed.

This all happened in about a month's time.

From what I have read I am certainly not the first to get sucked in by their interconnects and fully converted! I can't recall reading anything really negative about any of their products, except for a somewhat lukewarm review of the entry level Starlet integrated in Stereophile from a long time ago. Still, there is not a lot of reports about Von Gaylord out there.

Aside from being a very happy customer, I have no affiliation with the company. Also, the owner Ray Leung is a great guy and has given me white glove service in my home for all of my needs!
eugene81

Showing 3 responses by eugene81

eugene81 OP
268 posts
 
Good to see other fans out there and I'm not crazy in my enthusiasm for this company!

Trelja, I agree about the 6550. I used to have a VTL ST-150, which was great on intimate/acoustic type music, but too dark and not so good with rock. I also felt the McIntosh MC275 was way too soft for me when I heard it, so I was hesitant about going with the Nirvana amps. But since I had such good experiences with the cables, preamp, and speakers, I decided to take a chance. It was absolutely the right move! At the time I was kicking myself after I sold off my Luxman M-600a because I liked it so much, but the Nirvanas are even better, being just as big, dynamic, detailed, and transparent, but adding just the right amount of that wonderfully musical tube bloom.
eugene81 OP
268 posts
 
Extremely cool! You can literally put your hands on them when they are fully warmed up (not too long though). I have a 20 month old toddler and I don't sweat it when she gets close because if she touches the tubes I know there's no chance of her getting burned and it won't be very painful but just hot enough to let her know it's a no-no.

The VTL was like a radiator; these are like warming trays.
eugene81 OP
268 posts
 
I just upgraded most of my cables from the Chinchilla to the Legend 7000s including interconnects from DAC to pre and pre to amps + power cords on the DAC and preamp -- still running the amps with Chinchilla.

WOW, a substantial improvement where I didn't think it was possible! The same wonderful rich and vivid tone is retained but instruments have considerably more air and texture within, incredibly open and transparent. Their sounds emanate more into the room making them just more life-like than before. By comparison, the Chinchillas sound a bit compressed. I never thought I would say that!

Actually, Ray had left me a pair of the ICs for a few weeks. I put them in and immediately noticed an improvement, but decided I would be disciplined and take them out so as not to get too used to them. A couple of days before he was to pick them up I found a pair of Chinchillas for my bedroom system. While I put those in I decided to compare them to the 7000s again (that was the fatal "mistake"). They both sounded really good but the 7000s had that extra realistic magic that made me consider them for my main system. Ray gave me a great package deal for being a loyal customer so I bit the bullet and the improvement in sound was undoubtedly compounded by changing multiple cables. The upgrade definitely bruised the wallet, but listening to the system with these cables in massages the wounds. :) There are other areas in my system which could have used the money, but I feel the 7000s were a worthwhile investment. Someday when I can scrape together the extra cash I will get myself a pair of JPS Aluminata to compare them to.
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