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Lightspeed Attenuator - Best Preamp Ever?

The question is a bit rhetorical. No preamp is the best ever, and much depends on system context. I am starting this thread beacuase there is a lot of info on this preamp in a Music First Audio Passive...thread, an Slagle AVC Modules...thread and wanted to be sure that information on this amazing product did not get lost in those threads.

I suspect that many folks may give this preamp a try at $450, direct from Australia, so I thought it would be good for current owners and future owners to have a place to describe their experience with this preamp.

It is a passive preamp that uses light LEDs, rather than mechanical contacts, to alter resistance and thereby attenuation of the source signal. It has been extremely hot in the DIY community, since the maker of this preamp provided gernerously provided information on how to make one. The trick is that while there are few parts, getting it done right, the matching of the parts is time consuming and tricky, and to boot, most of use would solder our fingers together if we tried. At $450, don't bother. It is cased in a small chassis that is fully shielded alloy, it gets it's RF sink earth via the interconnects. Vibration doesn't come into it as there is nothing to get vibrated as it's passive, even the active led's are immune as they are gas element, no filaments. The feet I attach are soft silicon/sorbethane compound anyway just in case.

This is not audio jewelry with bling, but solidly made and there is little room (if any) for audionervosa or tweaking.

So is this the best preamp ever? It might be if you have a single source (though you could use a switch box), your source is 2v or higher, your IC from pre-amp to amp is less than 2m to keep capaitance low, your amp is 5kohm input or higher (most any tube amp), and your amp is relatively sensitive (1v input sensitivity or lower v would be just right). In other words, within a passive friendly system (you do have to give this some thought), this is the finest passive preamp I have ever heard, and I have has many ranging form resistor-based to TVCs and AVCs.

In my system, with my equipment, I think it is the best I have heard passive or active, but I lean towards prefering preamp neutrality and transparency, without loosing musicality, dynamics, or the handling of low bass and highs.

If you own one, what are your impressions versus anything you have heard?

Is it the best ever? I suspect for some it may be, and to say that for a $450 product makes it stupidgood.
pubul57
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Knghifi
wish he could answer some of my questions. I'm still stuck on " ... is the closest you will get to playing music that's truest to the source (cdp, phono ect), and the truest way to hear the way the recording engineers wanted you to hear how they have recorded the music.
As it adds nothing and subtracts nothing ..." Knghifi
:
:
:
I'm still a little black and blue from the last mugging, I'll try for a few broken ribs this time around.

What comes after the source can only be corrupted by more electronics, it cannot fix a "bad" cdp dac or cd. It can only add corruptions, colourations, distortions and euphonics.
There is no magic preamp that can add bits or remove distortions from a cd or re-design a bad output stage in a cdp or dac, you can however falsely add colourations, euphonics, and tonally change things, but this is not "being true to the source".
I believe if you have a source that needs this sort of treatment, you need to get a better one, and one you like, without having to bandaid fix it.
Cheers George
pubul57 OP
3,712 posts
 
Which Shiraz?
fiddler
581 posts
 
George,

If they don't get that explanation, they ain't gonna get it.

Lots of folks may prefer an active preamp, me included at times. But your explanation above is about as simple as it can get.
knghifi
1,668 posts
 

Georgelofi,
What comes after the source can only be corrupted by more electronics, it cannot fix a "bad" cdp dac or cd. It can only add corruptions, colourations, distortions and euphonics.
There is no magic preamp that can add bits or remove distortions from a cd or re-design a bad output stage in a cdp or dac, you can however falsely add colourations, euphonics, and tonally change things, but this is not "being true to the source".
I believe if you have a source that needs this sort of treatment, you need to get a better one, and one you like, without having to bandaid fix it.

Every component has a sonic signature. It's not bad or good but just a sonic signature. By the time signal reaches the preamp, it has sonic signature of the source and IC. The signal still needs to pass through the amp, ic, speaker cable, speakers, PC .... and will get altered and altered again. In a sound system, you are hearing a combination of 10+ sonic signatures, not just the source and interconnect.

Let's try this, apple juice is the taste all the chefs want you to experience. Once it's mixed with 9 different juices, you are tasting a combination of all the juices. Use water for LSA and is added after the apple juice, apple taste is preserved until you add the 8 different juices. At the end, the taste is the combination of all the juices. Now if the 9 juices have the properties of water, NEUTRAL, then apple will be prominent. I guess this is the reason everybody claims their product is neutral.

It appears my view is more at the system level than yours.


01-03-11: Pubul57
Which Shiraz?
2buckchuck.

Wine is like audio. Price does not equate taste. I have 2 friends that own liquor stores, even with discounts I was spending too much $$ on wine over the years. I was reluctant at first but after I tasted 2buckchuck, I sold ... ok I won't list them :-):-) This is what I drink most of time at home. Doesn't taste like an cheap wine but actually best many more expensive ones.
pubul57 OP
3,712 posts
 
If you like the grape, you'll like the wine 98% of time, no matter what the $$$.
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