Russian Tube Preamp, No Return, Here I go again

lewm

of course not physical appearance, function: he says "flawless working quality" 

that's a ridiculous thing to say for a used item, but it gives a buyer a way out if another disaster happens, like I just went thru with a NEW flawless item.

I tried my very best before rejecting it, more than most others would have, or could have done. It will cost Sergey $99.70 to ship it back. I think he wants to find out what went wrong for the future.

Seller was totally honorable,

prepaid $100. return shipping, I dropped off at USPS, sent him a copy of the receipt and Customs Form, he instantly refunded original purchase: unit, shipping, tax. Not waiting months to get the unit before refund.

A disaster, yet I don't regret ordering it. My decision to trust them proved true. They trust me as well, that's rewarding in itself.

Oh yeah, I made an offer last evening for a 2 month old Luxman SQ-N150. Current Model, Integrated, MM/MC, 10 wpc, remote volume, small, fits on bookcase easily.

http://www.luxman.com/product/detail.php?id=33

Far more than I was thinking, I justified it this way:  I'm pre-spending the money I'm gonna get when I sell around 3,500 LP's.

Not vintage, no wood, but will be cool looking between my Grey Mitsubishi Vertical TT (they look like metal, but are painted wood) and Black Teac R2R. 

Damn thing has internal bias like my Cayin. The one I'm after has original tubes in original position which luxmanamerica advised me to verify. USA voltage.

I asked Ryan at Audio Classics about them, he said this:

"As far as the SQ150, that is a great unit.  The Luxman has been very popular in the past year.  Very appealing to the McIntosh enthusiasts it seems.  Sweet, never bright, and very very low noise.  It would match very well with the Wharfdales".

Even though your purchase did not work out, it is indeed good to know that he is an honest, honorable merchant. 

yes, it maintains my faith in mankind, which is too often hard to do.

seller just agreed, I just paid for the Luxman, whew, the torture of research, selection, optional ideas is over!

As it happens, my McIntosh preamp is with Audio Classics, so I will be able to use this 10 wpc with my main system to get Phono back while waiting. It will be fun to see how 10 wpc does with those very efficient horns. Still gotta move those 15" woofers, I’ll take it slow.

Then move the Luxman to office system as intended. For fun I will try 10 wpc to Wharfedale’s (only 87 sensitivity) without self-powered sub, but then go first to pre-out to sub, then back to amp main-in with no need for low bass, should help both the amp and the speakers do a cleaner job.

This is the lowest power amp I have ever owned/tried.