Lightspeed Attenuator - Best Preamp Ever?

I have no doubt the LSA is truer to the source than any acrtive linestage. Whether being true to the source sounds better or not to a particular listener is another question that nobody but the listener can answer. What I think the LSA offers, is the ability to eliminate a step in the chain, so that you are left with source,amp, speaker to define the system's sound - it simply gets out of the way, and the source - amp - speaker interface is free to define the sound, without the the preamp acting as a chameleon with differtent systems, the LSA simply gets out of the way, better than any other preamp I have tried, and that makes it transparent on not a coloration to be played with in the system as a whole. Because it is so transparent, or absent, it will alter the choice one might make between source and amp - but for what it is designed to do, it seems to me it does it extemely well. You want warmth, change your amp - the LSA does nothing but make the music louder or lower - don't expect it to flavour the soundscape in any way - it won't do that - it is the color of water.

Straight wire no gain? LSA the watercourse way (sic)? Lead, follow, or get out of the way? Sounds likes the LSA fits the bill;) However, it doesn't fit everyone's preference.

In any event, with the LSA we're not only left with the source-amp-speaker interface, we're left with the recording engineers/musicians preference. I have never heard a preamp that exposed that extra variable into the mix like the LSA.

True to the source? Perhaps...

"That to me is an indication of the LSA's transparency and faithfulness to the source, and a lack of transparency in The Dude. By transparency I am referring to lack or presence of coloration"

Let me further explain as I think my statement needs more context. I feel it is a matter of taste and not accuracy at all. The LSA plays the instruments more up front and forward - and I mean all of them! The instruments play on the same plane at the front of the speaker. Some may like this. However, to others it is a lack of 3D perspective or depth.

The Dude plays music with greater depth and not all the instruments play on the same forward plane. Some are more set back and not as "up front" on the performance stage. The performance has more perspective and depth. If the recording offers only a forward perspective for all the players, then the Dude reveals that. If the recording is more layered, then the Dude gives that deeper layered presentation.

I found the LSA made my favorite recordings all share that same forwardness for all the instruments. In other words, every recording began to take on the same personality with all the music coming from a plane at the front of the speaker. The whole of the music seemed to be traded off or lost as the vocals and instruments all competed for attention at the front of the stage.

When I attend a symphony or other great sounding live music events I hear instruments positioned differently on the stage with many of them at differing volume and intensity levels. The Dude seems to reflect that reality more. This is exactly what I mean in my statements above. To my ears, in my system, the Dude is every bit as transparent as the LSA, but the Dude seems to possess more fidelity to the space and dimension of the musical experience.

Rather than compare the two which only I can really do based on actual experience, I do find one topic very interesting. Some feel that an active preamp is adding warmth or coloration to obtain a richer sound that is somehow not really in the recording or live musical event. The conclusion given by those is that this richer sound experience is not as accurate or true to the recorded source. This can certainly be true of some active tube units, but not all.

In my experience live music delivers the whole of the instrument. Listen to a grand piano, cello, violin etc… or entire symphony in a great sounding venue and you will hear the rumble, resonance and totality of that instrument. You will hear the orchestra swell in full and rich momentum with a solid deep foundation underlying the whole musical event. Is that added? Is that coloration? I don’t think so. That is what I hear with the Dude. This is what I find missing with the LSA in comparison to the Dude. For me this is critical to reproduce in my home music system. Again, for me alone this is important and it may not be to others. Is a passive missing this part of the music? Is it missing what was intended to be there? Is it actually playing what is recorded and the recording does not sound like the live event? I suppose the last point is possible, but my desire is to hear instruments as they actually sound in a natural setting.
I am not sure a passive is by some mathematical or physical fact the best way to achieve live sound in our homes. Let’s face it; all gear and wire in our systems are reproducing or passing along electrical signals no matter the set-up; Active or passive, tube or SS, horn or ESL, simple or complex and on and on it goes. I don’t think that a passive or active unit is ALWAYS the definitive best means to hearing the wholeness of a musical event – not missing depth, bass foundation, warmth, dynamics, crashing of a cymbal etc…. I cannot accept a sweeping statement that passive units are the best means to live music recreated in our homes. They may be in a particular system to one person’s ears, but that’s about as far as we can take it.
Ok, have it Agoners!

"found the LSA made my favorite recordings all share that same forwardness for all the instruments. In other words, every recording began to take on the same personality with all the music coming from a plane at the front of the speaker. The whole of the music seemed to be traded off or lost as the vocals and instruments all competed for attention at the front of the stage."

That is a very telling statement. I have audiophile friends who believe any pre-amp is a bad pre-amp and should not be in the chain. I fall into active camp. I would be interested to hear how staging and dimensionality is an artifact from a technical standpoint.

I too will be getting an opportunity to hear the LSA and compare it to my TRL Dude. That should be fun. More importantly, I will involve my non-audiophile, musician wife in a blinded listening test between the two and will report on her findings rather than mine.

Tony, you referenced owning a TRL pre-amp. That was Paul's prototype of a battery-powered, solid state pre right? Not a Dude. Out of curiosity, did you ever hear the LSA side to side with that entity? Are you speaking from sonic memory?

The LSA plays the instruments more up front and forward - and I mean all of them! The instruments play on the same plane at the front of the speaker. Some may like this. However, to others it is a lack of 3D perspective or depth.

Bill, was this true of every recording or was it recording dependent? I do find with the LSA in my system it exposes the recordings for what they are. Meaning some have a more 3-D sound stage than others. Some are also more immediate in their presentation than others. However, I can't recall one where all instruments are in a flat plane at the front of the speaker. What specific recordings were you listening to?

If the recording offers only a forward perspective for all the players, then the Dude reveals that. If the recording is more layered, then the Dude gives that deeper layered presentation.

Exactly how it should be with any preamp, active or passive.