Integrated Amp Reviews

But until I began the more serious critical listening required for this review, I never realized how classically well balanced the LM-518IA's sound actually is. I knew it sounded elegant, colorful, and exciting, but I hadn't known how capable it was of opening doors on hitherto hidden inner spaces of my music.

With the Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a
The Line Magnetic LM-518IA mated especially well with the Falcon LS3/5a that I reviewed in August. The amp's 16-ohm taps loved the 15-ohm Falcons, and the Falcons really let those 845 tubes strut their stuff: The bright emitters wrung every last drop of midrange color and bass texture from these classic minimonitors. The Falcons are masters at showing me what an amplifier—or recording—really sounds like, and the LM-518IA didn't escape their scrutiny.

The LM-Falcon combo not only played records with astonishing color and limitless inner detail, it let me peek inside the tubes and access the vital energy of the 845s: a free-flowing energy that resuscitates lines of notes and can take recordings of baroque and renaissance music—madrigals, harpsichord music, choral music—to goose-bump levels. And solo acoustic pianos had rock-solid spatial presence. I experienced an almost primal connectedness to the whole SET experience—something I hadn't felt in more than 12 years. The one noticeable downside of this revealing amp-speaker combo was that the LM-518IA clearly emphasized the Falcons' rising top end.

With the KEF LS50
With my reference KEF LS50 speakers, the LM-518IA let Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions, on their Through the Devil Softly (CD, Nettwerk 0 6700 30848 2), sing and play their way into my lustful artistic dreams. Having set the volume to late-night levels, I listened to the reverie-inducing "For the Rest of Your Life" and was reminded what a sucker I am for this former Mazzy Star artist and her own warm inventions: art meets ennui. Usually, the sound of the KEF LS50s has a damped, almost metallic thickness or membrane-like quality, a hesitance or squeezed-hose restriction of musical flow, that very slightly constricts the dynamic range. It's almost imperceptible, but mediocre amps can't penetrate or eradicate it. The LM-518IA's aforementioned vital energy seemed to unhesitatingly penetrate this constraint: This amp-speaker partnership was a free-flowing, satisfying, highly recommendable combination.

With the GoldenEar Technology Triton Five
The Triton Five speakers (review in the works) were voiced by GoldenEar Technology's founder, Sandy Gross, who used as his reference Line Magnetic's much bigger (but technically and sonically very similar) LM-219IA integrated. Therefore, I figured the LM-518IA might drive the Triton Fives with some aplomb.

I was right! While playing Kate & Anna McGarrigle's Dancer with Bruised Knees (1977 LP, Warner Bros. BS 3014), the LM-518IA sprinted down the music's halls, excitedly opening one hidden door after another. It did especially well with the swaying, syncopated "Be My Baby," featuring Anna on vocals and piano and John Cale on marimba. Everything felt natural and human-scaled. The song's structure, as well as that McGarrigle primal feminine charm, jumped right out at me. And the LM-518IA showed me an appealing organic softness. The complex tones of the Hammond B4 organ, highly textured and fully revealed, filled my room. I experienced heaps of new admiration for the McGarrigles and their songwriting, and for producer Joe Boyd.

Incidentally, the Triton Five uses the company's own fundamentally smooth and transparent air-motion transformer tweeter—referred to by GoldenEar as a high-velocity folded ribbon—which seemed to mate especially well with the LM-518IA's natural incandescence. Stay tuned for more about this interesting amp-speaker combo, when I finish reviewing the Tritons.

With the DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93
This is where it all began. Before there was Herb at Stereophile, there was Herb listening like a keen-eared dog to the DeVore apes singing by the light of the bright emitters. This combination did virtually everything I need a system to do: tuneful, clean, big-magnet, organic, paper-cone bass; rich, present, colorful, real-human-being–sounding voices; and instruments with consistently right-on timbres. The DeVore O/93s are chameleon-like speakers that have helped me discover that class-D, class-A, solid-state, push-pull, pentode, single-ended triode—all can be perfect paths to musical pleasure. The pairing of Orangutans and LM-518IA blazed one of those perfect paths.

Conclusions
Most high-end audio components can be easily divided into categories of Good, Better, and Best. But there is a difficult group of audio things that fall into a different category, somewhere between Better and Best: the Really Good. And sometimes, a Really Good component can be better than the Best—when it matches up with your tastes.

The Line Magnetic LM-518IA is that sort of product. I'd been using it almost mindlessly as my reference integrated simply because it was here and it always sounded better than whatever I was reviewing. But now, under full review-level scrutiny, I at last recognized the LM-518IA's complete array of virtues. It is musically alive and vigorous. It moves forward like a caffeinated child chasing a scared cat. It is strong. It has easily driven every speaker I have tried with it. It plays music with rare charm and sensitivity. Its beguiling light illuminates one of the most detailed soundstages I have ever heard as a reviewer. It is reliable: I have used and abused this 77-lb machine for more than a year and, more than any other amp I have reviewed, it seems indestructible. Most important, the LM-518IA plays like an amp costing many times $4450.

And, one dreamy, candlelit night . . . I did see a wizard with a wand and pointy hat!