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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
trelja
3,223 posts
 
Over the course of more than a decade, in the various times I've heard Von Gaylord/Legend at shows or two of my local dealers, I've always come away struck by their incredible musicality and terrific sound.

Aside from that, their use of the 6550 has proved the only application I have ever enjoyed this tube.
eugene81 OP
270 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.
weebeesdad
138 posts
 
How hot do the Nirvanas run? Their website claims a cooler operating temperature for the tubes- do you find the heat from those eight 6550s to be problematic??
eugene81 OP
270 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.
smw30yahoocom
154 posts
 
Hi, I have owned the Von Gaylord amps (LM Triode, L2 Signature pre-amp) for many years and absolutely love it. This is a top notch system, one of the best. I have Dahlquist 20i speakers, Von Gaylord interconnects, the new Wadia 121 dac, and HiDiamond USB digital cable (very good by the way). The sound is glorious. My system is very detailed, but warm, so there is no listening fatigue whatsoever. Soundstage is excellent. I waited a long time to find the right dac and had cheap cd players for awhile and no matter what I had, the sound was very good. It's hard to put together a system that has detail, but also doesn't sound harsh or analytical, and Von Gaylord is that system. They also have excellent customer service which is extremely important to me. I have worked with Ray for years, a great guy and they are eager to help customers put together the right system for them. I am very happy with my system and sound, I have no desire to change or update anything. If anybody is in the market for an amp or pre-amp, they owe it to themselves to at least give a listen to their products. Sandra
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