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How is LAMM LP2 compares to the more recent phono

I am now using all LAMM pre/power and my LAMM dealer offers pretty good deal on the LAMM LP2 phono deluxe version for me. I understand that 5-7 years ago, it is considered one of the top phono available but have not heard much about it recently and wonder how it might stand up to the more recent phono unit such as ARC Ref2, AMR, Audio Valve, Rhea Signature or Audia Flight etc.
I plan to audition LP2 but other units will be a bit difficult to find and I may not be able to audition them all unfortunately.
Thanks for your comment
suteetat
suteetat OP
435 posts
 
Lula, I only use Fosgate MM input with my SUT so far. I think Fosgate has more neutral presentation, a little less tube sound, if you like. Lamm has richer, thicker tone, a bit wider soundstage and more detail overall. The difference is not night and day especially after switching out stock tubes on Fosgate. I had Blackburn Mullard 12AX7 ong plate installed which improved the sound quite a bit. Fosgate is a bit more quiet however. Another good thing with Fosgate is that it has no problem working with solid state preamp. Before I switched to all Lamm electronics, I was using ASR Emitter II. It was rather hard to find tube phono that works well with ASR 10k input impedance.
suteetat OP
435 posts
 
I got 2 matched pairs of WE 417A from audiotubes.com and replaced Raytheon tubes with these. It has been only a few hours so far but I am impressed. Brent Jessee of audiotubes told me that they were all low microphonics. Lamm LP2 is certainly a lot more quiet now, pretty much on par with Fosgate. I also replaced stock fuse with Power House platinum fuse which helped a lot as well. The sound is clearer, better focus, slightly more open with out any loss of body or smoothness and better controlled bass but perhaps, I miss a bit of the lushness of the Raytheon.
Oh well... I need to burn the fuse and the tubes a bit more but I am very impressed.

I will keep Lamm in this configuration for awhile but I am curious about changing capacitors in Lamm. Not sure if I want to go down that road but just in case, I was told that Mundorf does not make caps as big as those that Lamm uses but somebody suggested V-Cap as a possibility. I wonder for those who have changed caps, what do you use?

andromedaaudio
170 posts
 
Have a look for your self and values {
http://www.mundorf.com/english/bauteile/frkondensator.htm}

and {http://www.duelundaudio.com/}

im sorry no amp expirience i just tested them in loudspeakers i like both.
thuchan
1,009 posts
 
Suteetat. I use Mundorf caps in my Lamm - see image on my page. You see it is possible. good hint by Andromedaaudio.
suteetat OP
435 posts
 
Andromedaaudio and Thuchan, thanks for the advise. Duelund definitely sounds interesting. I had capacitors on my speaker crossover changed to Munsdorf before with excellent result. My local DIY/Mod guy talked very highly of Duelund as well but not very much experience around here due to cost but it could be interesting. WE 417A started to sound nicer and nicer. So far I am very happy with Lamm LP2 the way it is :)
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