Description: Dual-mono, four-chassis line stage with outboard power supplies. Tube complement: four 6N30P-DR (each preamplifier), two 6X4 (each power supply). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, –0.1dB; 5Hz–140kHz, –3dB. Maximum voltage gain: 7.43x, 17.4dB, ±2%. Additional attenuation: 3.98x, 12dB, ±0.17dB. Slew rate: 47V/µs. Rise time: 0.61µs. Total harmonic distortion: <0.03% at 1V RMS into 41k ohms); <1% at 50V RMS into 41k ohms. IM distortion: <0.09% at 1V RMS into 41k ohms; <1% at 10V RMS into 41k ohms. Input sensitivity: 135mV RMS, ±2%. Input…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Components
Analog Sources: Rega Planar 3, VPI TNT IV turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood, Koetsu Urushi cartridges.
Digital Sources: Creek Destiny, Lector CDP-7T CD players.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage; Audio Valve Eclipse, Zesto Leto line stages; Audio Research SP20 preamplifier.
Power Amplifier: Audio Research Reference 75.
Loudspeakers: Epos M16i, Monitor Audio Silver RS6, Nola Viper Reference III.
Cables: Interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, MI-330SG Terminator…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used my top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It") to measure the Lamm LL1 Signature preamplifier. With its four chassis, the LL1 occupies a lot of real estate; I placed the two signal-handling chassis on the rack next to the test system, with the umbilical cables long enough to allow me to place the two power-supply chassis on the floor.
Although the LL1 offers XLR jacks for input and output, Lamm refers to these as "pseudo-balanced," meaning that they are actually single-ended. I measured the…
Manufacturer's Comment
Editor: We offer our appreciation to the LL1 Signature review team: to Robert J. Reina for effectively revealing and focusing on the main sonic qualities of the LL1, and to John Atkinson for his interpretation of the measurement results, which are, as always, without peer.
From the start, Mr. Reina set out to clear specific hurdles in a product of the level of the LL1 Signature, in order to be truly impressed with the preamp, and he thoroughly covered the entire ground by dealing with those issues. He ended up being surprised by finding "three areas in…
It’s clearly time for a complete rethink of the music biopic format. When a cherubic, large eyed child appears early on in Get On Up, I let out an involuntary groan. It was Ray all over again. But actually it wasn’t because the new James Brown biopic has none of the resonance of that fine film which admittedly is one of the icons of the music biopic genre along with Great Balls of Fire and Walk The Line.
Let’s start with what works. Chadwick Boseman, who played Jackie Robinson in 42 does an admirable job with Brown’s electrifying stage presence. He’s got the splits, the shuffles and that…
Call it the Robert Louis Stevenson Syndrome. In the June issue of Stereophile in my feature on the band Hospitality, I made the fairly grievous error of calling Matt Boynton’s studio in Brooklyn, Treasure Island not Vacation Island. In my defense, just before I wrote the piece I had been looking at the plates that N.C. Wyeth did for the famous print edition of Treasure Island. Nevertheless, to make amends I decided to make the trek to Brooklyn to Matt’s studio to check it out and have a chat.
Established seven years ago, Vacation Island Recording is in a block building in South…
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, André Previn, cond.
Philips CD 400-016 2 (CD).
Ravel: Mother Goose Suite
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, André Previn, cond.
Philips CD 400-016 2 (CD).
The whimsical Carnival, with its nose-thumbing at Saint-Saëns' contemporaries (eg a lugubrious "Can-Can" and a stately cello rendition of Berlioz's Dance of the Sylphs, from The Damnation of Faust), is given a delightful treatment here, and put on one of the best-sounding CDs I've heard to date from a major record company.
Philips has been less up-front about the roots of its CDs than most other record manufacturers, If fact, they…
Choosing a moderately priced preamp has traditionally presented the audiophile with a host of serious problems. Most attempt to be all things to all listeners, expending resources on bells and whistles which would have been better expended on basic performance. Few have anything resembling a decent moving-coil stage. But there have always been a few designers (and companies) willing to expend much of their effort at the "low end of the high end." PS Audio has been such a company. Their new 4.6 preamp, an update and cosmetic clone of the earlier, well-received 4.5, is not at the top of their…
Ultimately I chose a vintage, broken-in, but otherwise little used (about 50 hours) Dynavector 17D. It was chosen because it was readily available, was at one time a state-of-the-art contender (it is no longer, of course, but remains fully competitive with any low-output moving-coil likely to be used with the 4.6), and, most important, it does not have a rising high-end response (footnote 1). My intent was to use the 17D and, if necessary, move on to the MC-One. Time did not permit the latter, but neither did I ultimately feel it to be necessary.
Listening
And it did take time to…
Sidebar 1: Review System
Associated equipment used to evaluate the 4.6 included the Well-Tempered Arm mounted on a VPI turntable, several power amplifiers but mainly PS's own 200Cx, the Epos 14 loudpeakers (primarily) and the VMPS Tower II/Rs (briefly).
CDs were played primarily on a CAL Audio Aria player. Preamps used for comparison included the Klyne SK-5A and Sumo Athena. Interconnects were all Monster M-1000, speaker cable Monster M-1.—Thomas J. Norton