Graham Slee's 2006 interview with TNT (http://www.tnt-audio.com/edcorner/july06.html) offers an eye-opening overview of the stark implications of RoHS for small to medium businesses, best summed up by his assessment that "all this legislation has a soul destroying effect on the designer who tries so incredibly hard to share his/her talents with the music lover, only to be shunned by what would seem to be ruthless dictators." Amen!!!
Lightspeed Attenuator - Best Preamp Ever?
The question is a bit rhetorical. No preamp is the best ever, and much depends on system context. I am starting this thread beacuase there is a lot of info on this preamp in a Music First Audio Passive...thread, an Slagle AVC Modules...thread and wanted to be sure that information on this amazing product did not get lost in those threads.
I suspect that many folks may give this preamp a try at $450, direct from Australia, so I thought it would be good for current owners and future owners to have a place to describe their experience with this preamp.
It is a passive preamp that uses light LEDs, rather than mechanical contacts, to alter resistance and thereby attenuation of the source signal. It has been extremely hot in the DIY community, since the maker of this preamp provided gernerously provided information on how to make one. The trick is that while there are few parts, getting it done right, the matching of the parts is time consuming and tricky, and to boot, most of use would solder our fingers together if we tried. At $450, don't bother. It is cased in a small chassis that is fully shielded alloy, it gets it's RF sink earth via the interconnects. Vibration doesn't come into it as there is nothing to get vibrated as it's passive, even the active led's are immune as they are gas element, no filaments. The feet I attach are soft silicon/sorbethane compound anyway just in case.
This is not audio jewelry with bling, but solidly made and there is little room (if any) for audionervosa or tweaking.
So is this the best preamp ever? It might be if you have a single source (though you could use a switch box), your source is 2v or higher, your IC from pre-amp to amp is less than 2m to keep capaitance low, your amp is 5kohm input or higher (most any tube amp), and your amp is relatively sensitive (1v input sensitivity or lower v would be just right). In other words, within a passive friendly system (you do have to give this some thought), this is the finest passive preamp I have ever heard, and I have has many ranging form resistor-based to TVCs and AVCs.
In my system, with my equipment, I think it is the best I have heard passive or active, but I lean towards prefering preamp neutrality and transparency, without loosing musicality, dynamics, or the handling of low bass and highs.
If you own one, what are your impressions versus anything you have heard?
Is it the best ever? I suspect for some it may be, and to say that for a $450 product makes it stupidgood.
I suspect that many folks may give this preamp a try at $450, direct from Australia, so I thought it would be good for current owners and future owners to have a place to describe their experience with this preamp.
It is a passive preamp that uses light LEDs, rather than mechanical contacts, to alter resistance and thereby attenuation of the source signal. It has been extremely hot in the DIY community, since the maker of this preamp provided gernerously provided information on how to make one. The trick is that while there are few parts, getting it done right, the matching of the parts is time consuming and tricky, and to boot, most of use would solder our fingers together if we tried. At $450, don't bother. It is cased in a small chassis that is fully shielded alloy, it gets it's RF sink earth via the interconnects. Vibration doesn't come into it as there is nothing to get vibrated as it's passive, even the active led's are immune as they are gas element, no filaments. The feet I attach are soft silicon/sorbethane compound anyway just in case.
This is not audio jewelry with bling, but solidly made and there is little room (if any) for audionervosa or tweaking.
So is this the best preamp ever? It might be if you have a single source (though you could use a switch box), your source is 2v or higher, your IC from pre-amp to amp is less than 2m to keep capaitance low, your amp is 5kohm input or higher (most any tube amp), and your amp is relatively sensitive (1v input sensitivity or lower v would be just right). In other words, within a passive friendly system (you do have to give this some thought), this is the finest passive preamp I have ever heard, and I have has many ranging form resistor-based to TVCs and AVCs.
In my system, with my equipment, I think it is the best I have heard passive or active, but I lean towards prefering preamp neutrality and transparency, without loosing musicality, dynamics, or the handling of low bass and highs.
If you own one, what are your impressions versus anything you have heard?
Is it the best ever? I suspect for some it may be, and to say that for a $450 product makes it stupidgood.
1,866 responses Add your response
I now use the fixed output on my Steelhead,bypassing the volume control of the manley. This has further improved my enjoyment of the LSA. Using the LSA with the Esoteric cd player into my amps was very revealing, and my old way of running the Manley with variable output(vol at full on the Manley)to retain the mono function,left me preferring the cd sound. Not so anymore. The manley is now just a phono stage, and a better one than I thought it was. The LSA's transparency is quite apparent on vinyl as well as CD/sacd. |
That's great to hear Lacee, echoing many of my customers are reporting back to me and say that with the Lightspeed Attenuator as the preamp it's the best they have ever heard their vinyl/phono sound. I did a bit of searching and found your Steelhead, has a great low 150ohms output impedance. With the Clearaudio Talisman Gold V2 you are using, where is the Lightspeed's volume control when listening to medium loud volume. Cheers George |
Very good Lacee, you couldn't ask for any better, enjoy. The Lightspeed's volume action/structure is logarithmic, and after 1 o'clock it rises exponentially in level till full. So as you can see at 1 o'clock you are at around only 30% to 40% of full volume you still have 60% to 70% of gain and head room level to go. There is no need for the extra amplification gain of active preamps. Theses days there's enough gain in cartridges/phono stages, so owners can take the active preamp out of the system, and reap even more transparency/dynamics from their systems with a passive preamps. And because they are dc coupled (no coupling capacitors in the signal path) the frequency response is greatly improved, passives are 0hz to well over 100's of mhz (megahertz) in frequency response, interconnects become the limiting factor for the high frequency limit. Lacee once you've listened for a while can you give us a review of replacing the active preamp with the Lightspeed Attenuator. Cheers George |
What I have learned is that volume controls even run wide open into a passive pre still have colourations. The manley Steelhead is still a good phono/preamp in a vinyl ,cd set up. You really don't need another preamp to be satisfied. That was the way I enjoyed my system, until I got the LSA. That was a game changer. I took the Esoteric out of the Steelhead and ran it into the LSA.Yes a bit of wire changing, but I am a fan of the purist school of audio,so one set of inputs and a bit of wire fiddling doesn't bother me if it's for the betterment of the sound. The sound of the cd player thru the LSA directly into the amps(bypassing the Manley)was much more powerful sounding.More dynamic, a fuller ,rounder sound, and more inner details. All the kinds of improvements you tire reading about, but nevertheless,were there. We really do need to invent some new vocabulary to describe these kinds of improvements,because I and no doubt countless others, tend to take such praises with just a hint of scepticism. And that's a shame. Improvements are improvements, no matter how hard it is to describe them, it's easy to hear them when they are there.And you can prove it to yourself that your ears are not fooling you, nor is it self delusion simply by going back to listening to things the way they were before.Then listening to the new way. I much preferred my cd/sacd replay thru the LSA. In fact so much, that I was in a dilemma. Why wasn't I enjoying my vinyl system as much? I addressed all manner of set up with my SME arm and table and Clearaudio cartridge. I use the same interconnect from the phono stage(Variable out)as I do from the cd player into the LSA. What I eventually did was run the Manley as just a phono stage.Which most reviews of the steelhead have stated, and I ignored. Running it from the fixed outputs bypasses the volume control altogether,but cancels the use of the Sum or mono function.I do play mono recordings from time to time.So I was reluctant to run the pre in fixed mode. Doing so, however, proved to be the answer to my problem. Vinyl is now on par with the punch and clarity of the digital set up. So as good as the Manley is as a phono stage with the added option as a volume line stage,I believe the volume control is it's weak spot. This is not to discourage anyone from running it this way. It sounds good. But if sounds good isn't good enough for you, and vinyl is important, then run it in fixed mode into your preamp of choice. In my case, it's the LSA. If vinyl doesn't matter,then try the LSA direct into your amp from your digital source. I think you will be more than pleased that this level of sound quality is available for so few dollars. Just make sure you try a decent linear power supply. I use the TeraDak. Without a linear power supply(I have not tried battery),you'll never know how great the lSA is. It is the most revealing, easiest to listen thru,least expensive(I 've owned some pretty expensive esoteric preamps over the past 40 years,tube and solid state)and quietest "pre amp"I've ever owned, and will be my last. Are there better ones out there? My friend has the ARC Ref 10, before that the Anniversary 40. I think they are pretty special in a system that is completely different than mine. But I don't think I'm missing too much. At least I don't feel short changed and I have no desire to chase after either of those preamps. |
It is the most revealing, easiest to listen thru,least expensive(I 've owned some pretty expensive esoteric preamps over the past 40 years,tube and solid state)and quietest "pre amp"I've ever owned, and will be my last. Wow, I feel humbled, and I thank you very much for your fine review above of the Lightspeed Attenuator Lacee. This maybe asking a bit much, not of you so much, but of your friend, as it would be very interesting to know how the Lightspeed stacks up against his ARC Reference 10 in his system. Cheers George. |
George, that's not going to happen. He's perfectly content with the way his system has been voiced and the ARC pre amp is almost the least costly component in this set up. As much as I would like to do the comparison, it's not going to happen, and I wouldn't even ask to do so. It's always a great learning experience for me to bring over a few lps, or cd's and have a listen to them on his set up. It is always as much a learning experience as it is a pleasurable listening experience. Afterwards I listen to the same tunes on my system,making note of the areas that my set up falls short of his. Then I experiment within my price range to try to improve what I have to make it sound similar to his. Similar, yes, the same, never. As much as the naysayers claim that only fools throw away their money chasing after the illusive absolute sound, money when spent wisely, does make for some very exciting listening sessions. Most of the reviews people read are taken with a grain of salt,some cry foul and say they are bought and paid for. However, until you hear some of these exotic items properly voiced, you will understand that fairy tales do come true. You just have to pay hard coin for that experience, or find things that come close that cost much less. The LSA is one such piece in my opinion. I am certain Sam Tellig was never paid to say nice things about your Volume control,and it certainly isn't priced anywhere near most of the pre-amps it's been favourably compared to. I would also like to hear what the ARC pre-amp would sound like in my system, but alas that's just a dream.My friend sets things up and that's the end of it. I do have two friends with Acoustat speakers and the Acoustat servo amps, one a newer 3 panel (flat) and the other a 4 panel. One uses an Atmasphere MP3, with Harmonic tech balanced cables into his amp which isn't balance, but was retrofitted with XLR jack, so it's quasi balanced and not the true measure of Ralph's genius(I used to own the same pre-amp, and it was great in a different set up with the Atmasphere S30 and stacked Quad 57's). My other friend has the Audio Valve Eclipse, which I also owned in a different system. So I do have personal experience with these two pre-amps when used with Acoustat amps and speakers, just not direct experience in my Acoustat set up. Do my friends systems have anything that I think my system lacks? Nothing, in fact, they always remark about how clear my system is. But then I am more anal about stuff like fuses, and room treatment and the importance of clean power and using a good audio rack(Grand Prix Audio). Because of my obsessive ways or their lack of them,I can say that the LSA is in no way shamed by either of these two very fine pre-amps, as it is set up in my system. As I stated I've owned some pretty good pre amps(Conrad Johnson Premier two, Blue Circle fully tricked Galatea,Levinson ML2,Meitner,to name a few)but not in the system I have now. I can only state that I have no desire to revisit them or seek out any others to replace the LSA. It makes me happy,whether I paid $500.00 or $50,000.00,I would still find it hits all the marks that matter to me. If I had one thing that I would change with the LSA, it would be to replace the RCA with the top of the line Rhodium RCA's from Furutech. These made a nice change on my Servo amps, and then my cables that use the 102 R Rca's would see a perfect match.I like consistency in connections,but I did admit to being anal. |
Hi Lacee, you could change the gold rca's that I use and replace them if you wish with the Furutech Rhodium ones. NB: If you want to do this let me know and I'll give you the dismantling procedure, it's not what you think, and can be tricky without knowing. Just make sure you don't use the plastic insulation washer/s, as the body (ground) of the Furutech rca must be in contact with the Lightspeed's chassis, to maintain it being an RF (radio frequency) sheild. http://www.furutech.com/2013/01/27/1837/ Cheers George |
Yes we tried doing the same auto-calibration system in many different configurations all with the same negative results to the quality of the sound. Documented years ago in diyforum, we tried many auto-calibration circuits for the Lightspeed Attenuator, to try to save a large percentage of production costs, of parts costs and labour cost and of the tedious task of quad matching the led/ldr's. Active auto-calibration (or to give it a more understandable name) "forced matching" circuits have to be attached to the signal carrying output, there is no way around this. On all the auto-calibration circuits we tried to save on these costs, we came to the final conclusion that they all interfered with the purity of sound. In that they added a highlighted sound to mid to high frequencies. And in effect seemed to reduce the bass a touch at the same time. So to cut a long story short we stayed with the purer far more costlier system of quad matching all led/ldr's for the Lightspeed Attenuator and auto-calibration was not considered option no matter how well it was designed. Cheers George |
Well to answer the question, IMO a resounding YES! As a long time user of George's preamp I wanted to just express how happy I am with it. I have owned several active preamps and transformer preamps over the years and by far the Lightspeed is the most transparent I have owned. I have a collection of equipment, but no matter what I try, I go back to the LS. I am currently running a simple system consisting of an upraded MiniMax+ DAC, Lightspeed, Hypex Amps and a pair of super transparent Yamaha NS1000. No preamp conveys the music IMO as the Lightspeed does. :) |
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. |
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. |
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 |
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 |
"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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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 |
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 |
09-19-14: Georgelofi 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. |
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 |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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 |
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. |
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 Very nice system you have there Gracerv. Bricasti M1 DA converter Thanks for your informed review, you are on my list should any upgrades become availible to the MkII Lightspeed in the future. Cheers George |
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. |
09-21-14: Georgelofi That would be a redundant gesture as much of the manipulation has already been done for you....:\ 09-21-14: Georgelofi 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. |
