Lightspeed Attenuator - Best Preamp Ever?

Grannhyring, just to give you some context, my view of the Lightspeed is as a current and former owner of several highly regarded tube amps from Lamm,ARC.Joule, CAT, and Atma-sphere. Not that it proves anything, but I would not like this thing if it was in the least bit small, sterile and thin relative to anything. If the tube pres I have owned, and still own, are not the very best, they are close. The fact that this thing is $450 can hurt it for those use to 10K preamps.

Alas, it is not for everyone with its one single-ended, single input, but this thing does not sound like any of the stereotypes of passives, it has the signature of clean water, letting the source connect to the amp with minimal interference, without loss of any apparent bandwidth, or dynamics. It is not a bandaid preamp that will fix whatever isn't quite right or to once's taste in the rest of the system. A great source with a great amp and speakers are where this preamp will work best, even in the company of $$$$ components before it or after it. My feeling has always been that the preamp should be as neutral as possible with the coloration one prefers coming elsewhere in the system - making it more universally easier to use in many different system contexts.

I hope this unit is used by someone at RMAF so everyone can actually hear it and decide for themselves if it provides the type of sound they can be happy with. It would be nice if there were a 30-day trial, but I'm not sure if the low price and the long-distance transportation would make that viable - it is certainly light enough to ship around.

It's not a preamp, it's a volume control. Preamps have multiple inputs. Some even have balance controls, tape outs, tone controls, phase reversal and volume mute, but at a minimum a preamp lets you select sources.

I hope this unit is used by someone at RMAF so everyone can actually hear it and decide for themselves if it provides the type of sound they can be happy with.

I'm bringing mine there this year and hope to convince a few people to plug it into their systems for some A/B comparisons. That's if they're brave enough.

I too have had what I consider to be some fine preamps by Cary, TRL, Joule, and Berning. The Lightspeed bested them all. Although there is no trial period I can't believe anyone who owns a $5000+ preamp can't spring for this unit to give it a listen. Even if you had to take a loss on resale you could still recoup at least 50%.

While I too am disappointed a balanced version is not available, some people have built them and George will provide you a schematic upon request. You could also email me and I'll send you a copy.

I'm with Pubul57 on this one.

The Lightspeed has been provoking debate since its inception. Here in Australia, it has had a long gestation period, with some loving it and others the opposite. Similar to what happened over on Audio Asylum I recall. As a 5 year user of one, my experience has been one of many ups and downs through a multitude of systems and components. I now realise many of the downs have been brought about by my own attempts to best it. After all, how could a tiny little $500 black box compete with others costing in the thousands ? Plus it's made in Australia and we all know the best audio equipment comes from overseas - right ?

Those who know me will be aware I have gone through a multitude of gear in the last 5 years. Mainly due to selling on eBay for others with much deeper pockets than I, allowing me the chance to experiment endlessly.

I have directly compared the Lightspeed to the following; (excuse me if I get the model designations wrong )

1. Audio Research SP11, SP10 LS3, LS8, LS2
2. CAT Signature
3. Supratek Chardonnay, Micrex M1.
4. Mark Levinson 380S
5. NuForce P8
6. Musical Fidelity SP3
8. Various Volume Controls in the many CD Players I have used.
9. 3 or 4 home brew preamps, both valve and SS.
10. Gryphon MK II
11. Placette TVC

(Thats about all I can recall for now, but I'm sure theres more)

The most recent comparison was with an Australian designed and made ME25 Preamplifier into a pair of EL34 Monoblocks, into my JBL 4350's. Once the impedances were matched to allow the Lightspeed to operate correctly ( along with 1m interconnect of course), there was no contest. The Lightspeed was cleaner, more transparent, better soundstage and dynamics etc etc etc. Needless to say, the ME was moved on. There was no loss of bass response, or any of the common downsides of Passive Control.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is this; Whilst the Lightspeed can be compared to all the above by inserting it into a system already optimized for another preamplifier, to get it to really shine, the system MUST be optimized for Lightspeed use. Often the Lightspeed may sound "brittle: or "shrill" when first used, until the impedances are matched correctly. When I did this, the Lightspeed COMPREHENSIVELY beat out all the above.

This system matching is the difference between the Lightspeed sounding just "good" vs sounding incredible. I have heard it sound pretty good driving 3m plus interconnects, and have done it myself on occasion. But, I have always had large gains when the system is configured properly to suit it.

IMO, using buffers defeats the purpose of having the Lightspeed, altough I'm happy to be proved wrong. I'd rather spend the cost of the buffer in changing the amplifier impedance to suit the Lightspeed. In some cases, in my experience, this has been less that 20 minutes work !

And lastly no, I do not have a financial interest in Lightspeed production and while I do know George well, I'm not into B.S'ing others based solely on that.

IMHO, for the cost, its an absolute no-brainer ........

Cheers

Scott