That is a really cool looking amp! I hadn't heard about it.
Is it the same dimensions as the 518? Does the higher power mean it would get even hotter than the 518?
How would you cable a system like that? ATC Scm 11 v2 with LM amp?
The amp is about the same size but 85lbs - I have not heard it or seen it in person so I really can't comment - there is a thread on the amp at the Steve Hoffman forum by one of the LM dealers who has more information.
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/new-line-magnetic-508ia-integrated-amp.542333/#post-14360963
It's just so brutally hot and humid in Hong Kong right now I am not motivated to make the trip down there.
I more or less view cables as tone controls - a cable might sound great in one system and mediocre in an other. Just look at the love/hate of MIT cables. Further for me cables tend to make blatant illogical sense to me from better or worse standpoints since ALL cables in the audio chain should make an impact but audiophile's brains go out the door if they can't SEE the cable.
Most people don't buy matched stereo systems they buy piece meal rigs - so they have a turntable/CD transport/DAC/Preamp/Power amp/Loudspeakers. And they have ICs and Speaker cables. Most people have mix/match stereos.
Example:
So they have say an Arcam CD player which is internally wired with (copper) of the dirt cheap no name variety, el cheapo capacitors and parts express solder blobs and torroid transformer, they run this to an Audio Note preamp which is internally wired with silver using black gate caps silver connectors and silver solder material that only they use and is tube output via C-Core transformers, into (enter big name solid state power amp) using bigger torroid transformers, cardas connectors back to copper wiring from some different company than Arcam uses with some other brand connectors with gold plating. Then they buy Nordost silver cables to their loudspeakers which are internally wired with Tara Labs copper cables to an off the shelf woofer and or tweeter both of which come from two different driver manufactures each of which is wound using different wires internally. Not to mention different cap and resistors from the upstream components. So you could have up to what 12 different wires in all the component pieces and now we want to see if adding cable XYZ is going to sound better - it might in Joe's systems and very well may not in Frank's.
Ideally I would like the same cables from cartridge wire to loudspeaker voice coil and if not exactly the same wire the same wire type. I know of very few brands who have made the attempt to wire and "part" the whole stereo system from source to speaker - and it's usually cost prohibitive. But in terms of logic - it makes sense - the alternative is just playing with tone controls spending piles of money on a whole bunch of high depreciation cables in the "hopes" that you happen to like one better than the other for any given system. As UHF magazine once said - "Selling cables is safer than stealing and easier than working." Not anti-cable because I've heard them make pretty sizeable differences but in a mix and match system I would have to say that they're equal to a tweak and the onus is on the owner of the rig to figure out the combination of tone controls that get them the tone they like.
For me - I am building an all Audio Note system so it is very easy to cable it because I can match the cables inside the units more closely to the external cables but I certainly would not pretend to say that my AN cables would sound better than a Nordost cable in an ATC or Harbeth system - in fact I doubt that they would being silver cables and the speakers no being internally wired with silver cables!! Indeed, it could sound brutally terrible for all I know.