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Lounge Audio

I feel I should warn folks who have bought a Lounge Audio product or are thinking about buying one.

I own a Lounge Audio LCR MkIII Silver Ed. and Copla. I originally bought both units new about 5 years ago.

Around 2 yrs ago I sent the LCR MkIII in to be upgraded to the Silver Ed. and have a Mono switch installed.

I got it back in good time except the Mono switch was installed but not wired. I decided not to send it back in this instance as I could live without the mono switch and I could probably repair it myself sometime.

Not long after, one of the channels in the Copla went out. I called Robert and he said that it's more than likely an LED that went out and that he's since been using better/more reliable LED's in the unit. He said to send the unit in and he would get to it as soon as he could. I decided to send both units in so he could fix that mono switch in the LCR MkIII as well.

He did warn me that it may be some time before he got to it because he was swamped with orders. Apparently, the Copla received a minor positive review in Stereophile Magazine in Feb. just before I sent it in. To be fair, he doesn't charge for repairs for the life of the unit/s. That's a nice gesture but I think I would rather pay for the repair and get it done in a reasonable amount of time rather than have wait for months to get it done for free.

I'm coming up on five months now and haven't seen my units. I called him a couple months back and he basically said he would get to them soon and he didn't say he was having supply issues like some companies were having during the pandemic period. I'm not sure what his definition of 'soon' is but it's not the same as mine is all I can say.

He also said that because of the amount of interest in Lounge Audio since the review, he hasn't been answering emails because most people were just "fishing".

I sent him some texts but haven't received any replies. I also emailed him again because that's the only Contact info provided by the Lounge Audio website. I don't know if he's not answering his calls/texts or his number is not good anymore.

I've been using a MoFi Studio phono pre in what I thought would be a temporary situation. I've since pretty much given up and bought a Sutherland Insight last week.

Thanks in advance for reading my rant.

Perhaps some folks will think I'm being unreasonable but I can't recommend Lounge Audio in good conscience to anyone who wants to buy one of their products and then may have to send it in for repairs.
IMO no one should have to wait this long.
nicktheknife
dewmonster's avatar
dewmonster
14 posts
 

I DO have an Update. 

After 18 months of trying to use my Hana SL Cartridge,  and having Robert attempt to turn the gain up on my other phone Pre-Amp, so I could utilize his SET, he couldn't due to power supply issues on the Competitors product. 

I was out shipping 2 ways for 2 attempts,  however due to the amount of Time, he decided to ship me his LCR in a new Beta version free of Charge. 

I just hooked it up last night and was literally laughing out loud at the Palpabilty of the performers. 

Best Sound out of my System in it's History of existence.

 

Was 18 months ridiculous?

Yes. 

Am I happy that It's in my Audio Room?

YES!!

 

Robert, is a great person and will talk your ear off.

He has no I'll intent,  but rather, is just trying to bite off more than one man can at this point!

He'll need to either hire an assistant, or the time will destroy what is a Great Brand.

lewm
13,740 posts
 

You have a 400 ohm Hana cartridge? And the lounge accepts input from MC cartridges with up to 300 ohm internal resistance?

lewm
13,740 posts
 

I think you probably have a Hana cartridge with an internal resistance of 40 ohms. Such a cartridge works most efficiently into an impedance of 400 ohms or 10 times its internal R. This is a “rule” for mating any two components in the audio chain. However, the consequences of an impedance mismatch are not all or nothing. Even at a ratio of 10, only about 92% of signal is transferred. The rest is lost to ground. And as you reduce the ratio below 10, gradually more and more signal voltage is lost. For example if you mate your 40 ohm cartridge to an input impedance of 40 ohms, a 1:1 ratio, only 50% of signal is lost, but there may be other negative consequences owing to the effect of input and cable capacitance which may roll off the high frequency response. My point is that running your 40 ohm Hana into 300 ohms is not so terrible.

lewm
13,740 posts
 

Should have written, "Such a cartridge works most efficiently into an impedance of 400 ohms or 10 times its internal R, or higher. "  The higher you go above 400 ohms or a 1:10 ratio of impedances, the more you cover the gap between 92% (see later) and 100% of the signal going to drive the phono stage. Usually that modest improvement is inaudible, but measurable.

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