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Audible Illusions L3B-Anyone heard one yet?

nelsress

nelsress

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Just wondering if anyone has heard Audible Illusions latest rendition of this line stage, either in your own system or in a friend's system? I'm curious as I made the decision to order one last year and it's supposed to ship to me this week and am really looking forward to inserting it into my system. As far as I know, the only changes to the L3A are in the power supply and the faceplate, knobs and push button cosmetics. The plastic push buttons have been replaced by machined aluminum buttons and the control knobs (i.e. volume, selector, etc.) are no longer straight cylindrical in shape.

Thanks for any insights!
 
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There's one in nearly constant use at my part time job...it's gorgeous, both aesthetically and sound wise...

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The new John Curl designed AI phono preamp is spectacular feeding the L3B.
 
Cool, thanks, that's good to hear! When I was in the USAF and stationed in Del Rio in the 70's, I visited an audio store a few times in San Antonio called, Bill Case Sound which later became Galen Carol Audio. That store remains today and they're an official Audible Illusions dealer, is that where your part time job is? If not, you've got a cool part time boss! Thanks again for the input.
 
nelsress said:
Cool, thanks, that's good to hear! When I was in the USAF and stationed in Del Rio in the 70's, I visited an audio store a few times in San Antonio called, Bill Case Sound which later became Galen Carol Audio. That store remains today and they're an official Audible Illusions dealer, is that where your part time job is? If not, you've got a cool part time boss! Thanks again for the input.
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Yep, one and the same, I've been with him for twenty years now, and have known him since the mid-eighties when he had a brick and mortar store "Audio Source".

Bill Case sound was the original HIFi store here and it spawned three separate businesses: Bjorn's, Concert Sound, and Galen. Concert Sound is gone from here, Bjorn's is mostly home entertainment type stuff, home automation, etc., Galen is the last of the straight HiFi dealers.
 
Interesting, thanks. As Galen Carol seems to get all of their AI L3B preamps with the Black Gate caps, you aren't able to compare it to one with the "standard" caps but I'd be curious to know the difference from a sonic standpoint. I've been hearing for years how good the Black Gate caps are but they're typically very expensive so I've never tried them in any projects. So, I decided to get mine with the Black Gate caps which, according to AI, require approximately 400-500 hours to break in whereas the standard caps they say only require 40 hours to break in. I don't really understand all that but will just run it 24/7 out in my shop with a tuner on low volume for 3 weeks to accomplish the long break in. That should take care of it, right?
 
I have an Audible Illusions preamp. It’s amazing. I just wish AI knew how to do customer service. It took 6 months to get my preamp, when I was promised 4-5 weeks. Weekly calls resulted in excuse after excuse. Then when I wanted to get a set of replacement tubes, it took 5 months. Agains, excuse after excuse. The really frustrating part was I paid up front in both cases. Like I said, and amazing preamp, but I doubt I will buy anything from them again. Just not worth the hassle.
 
I must be honest, I'd heard quite a few stories about relatively, shall we say "sluggish" customer service but great things about their product so I decided I'd order one and just not get too excited about it for about a year. Knowing that I had plenty of audio equipment until it arrived, I could take that approach. Also, being a "small business" (sole proprietorship) I can empathize with unforeseen production glitches, late delivery on parts, etc., I get it, when you're small it can be quite a challenge. So I went into this expecting it to take a while. It's all good if the end product is as good as I hope!
Perhaps I should order an extra set of tubes now so I'll have them long before (hopefully!) the originals crap out on me! :)
 
Jim McShane just got a test batch of gold pinned 6922EH tubes and ran them through variety of his rigs. I'm getting 2 matched pairs this coming week for my Modulus 2C. He had nearly 90% manufacturing quality issues with standard 6922EH tubes in recent times. Gold pinned ones passed his tests and he assures that 6922EH is current production of 6H23P-EB. EB extension means that tube passed rigorous testing and complies with military standards. I trust Jim and he says 6922EH is made to those standards, when it is made right, of course.
 
grindfix said:
Jim McShane just got a test batch of gold pinned 6922EH tubes and ran them through variety of his rigs. I'm getting 2 matched pairs this coming week for my Modulus 2C. He had nearly 90% manufacturing quality issues with standard 6922EH tubes in recent times. Gold pinned ones passed his tests and he assures that 6922EH is current production of 6H23P-EB. EB extension means that tube passed rigorous testing and complies with military standards. I trust Jim and he says 6922EH is made to those standards, when it is made right, of course.
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That's good to know. The L3B that I'll be getting uses a Russian tube referred to as a "super tube", is that the 6H23P-EB you referenced? If it is, I'm sure I can get them from Mr. McShane in a lot less than 5 months! :) Thanks.
 
That is the tube your preamp is taking. I think all of their preamps take the same tube type. Jim does not have old stock Russian tubes. 6922EH is current production of the same tube according to his test results.
 
nelsress said:
I must be honest, I'd heard quite a few stories about relatively, shall we say "sluggish" customer service but great things about their product so I decided I'd order one and just not get too excited about it for about a year. Knowing that I had plenty of audio equipment until it arrived, I could take that approach. Also, being a "small business" (sole proprietorship) I can empathize with unforeseen production glitches, late delivery on parts, etc., I get it, when you're small it can be quite a challenge. So I went into this expecting it to take a while. It's all good if the end product is as good as I hope!
Perhaps I should order an extra set of tubes now so I'll have them long before (hopefully!) the originals crap out on me! :)
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I would order an extra set of tubes. There is a seller on EBay that sells the tubes and will verify matching at the 5% level as AI says is needed. This seller also told me he sells the tubes to AI. I bought a set from him and they are in the exact boxes and marked exactly the same as the AI tubes I purchased. They were also 100 dollars cheaper from him. Just my 2 cents.
 
I'm sure AI do not just buy those tubes from that seller and resell them without testing. I doubt anyone will do that while trying to maintain reputation and selling $3500 line stage preamp. I'm sure if that ebay seller tests them properly and stands behind his product - he (she) would be (or is?) well known here too. I have no affiliations with Jim McShane but I have nothing but good experience to report. I've been buying tubes from him for about 3 years with no issues with tubes or his service. Besides that, he is also there to help with the circuit whenever I had a question. Much more then just a tube dealer. In my opinion buying tubes from ebay or other sources is risky because average VTA user do not have knowledge or equipment to verify the grade of the purchase. Buying tubes from trusted dealer eliminates that need.
 
nelsress said:
The L3B that I'll be getting uses a Russian tube referred to as a "super tube", is that the 6H23P-EB you referenced?
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IIRC... it was the 6h30 P-DR that was called the "super tube". It is not interchangeable with a 6922.

How many tubes does the L3B take?
 
grindfix said:
I'm sure AI do not just buy those tubes from that seller and resell them without testing. I doubt anyone will do that while trying to maintain reputation and selling $3500 line stage preamp. I'm sure if that ebay seller tests them properly and stands behind his product - he (she) would be (or is?) well known here too. I have no affiliations with Jim McShane but I have nothing but good experience to report. I've been buying tubes from him for about 3 years with no issues with tubes or his service. Besides that, he is also there to help with the circuit whenever I had a question. Much more then just a tube dealer. In my opinion buying tubes from ebay or other sources is risky because average VTA user do not have knowledge or equipment to verify the grade of the purchase. Buying tubes from trusted dealer eliminates that need.
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I appreciate your thoughts. I did reach out to Jim once and got an initial response. When I asked about making sure of the match on the tubes because of my having an AI preamp, he never responded. Not sure why, but after not responding, I did a lot of research and asking of questions before I found the guy on EBay. His tubes were clearly marked on the box for test results and comparing them to a brand new set from AI, they sounded slightly better to me. Also, understand that when Jim did not respond I had already been through the 5 month wait with AI to get my tubes. I really wasn't at a point where I was going to take someone not answering me. I'm sure Jim does a really great job, because of all the good things people have said about him. He may have just been busy and the email slipped by.
 
Update:
I spoke with Jerry at Audible Illusions today and my preamp is "on the bench" and will be getting the full "Blackgate treatment" when the tech who builds all the L3B preamps returns next week. I'm really looking forward to getting this, breaking it in and settling in with it and some music.
 
nelsress said:
Update:
I spoke with Jerry at Audible Illusions today and my preamp is "on the bench" and will be getting the full "Blackgate treatment" when the tech who builds all the L3B preamps returns next week. I'm really looking forward to getting this, breaking it in and settling in with it and some music.
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I hope they have improved on their customer service. They make amazing products, but tend to not be fully truthful on time frames. I was told 4 weeks to build by Modulus 3B. Took 6 months, I also ordered a set of replacement tubes from them and paid in advance. Was told 2 weeks. Again took almost 5 months. To their credit, they ultimately refunded my money on the tubes because of the wait. Not to sound to negative, but when I was told the tech was out when they built my preamp,the next problem to arise was the lack of a certain specialized part. I hope this will not be true for you.
 
trinhsman said:
I hope they have improved on their customer service. They make amazing products, but tend to not be fully truthful on time frames. I was told 4 weeks to build by Modulus 3B. Took 6 months, I also ordered a set of replacement tubes from them and paid in advance. Was told 2 weeks. Again took almost 5 months. To their credit, they ultimately refunded my money on the tubes because of the wait. Not to sound to negative, but when I was told the tech was out when they built my preamp,the next problem to arise was the lack of a certain specialized part. I hope this will not be true for you.
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Trinhsman, I'm sorry that your experience with AI sucked, I understand. One good thing I see is that your list of gear starts with the AI M3B so the experience didn't upset you so much that you sold the unit out of frustration, which also would have been understandable. This is not the first such story I've heard and, as I believe I mentioned, mine has been paid for in full since last May so I'm guessing (hoping) that this is not smoke being blown somewhere after all this time but I suppose we'll see! I forget if I was told that I was the first order overall or if I was just the first order who wasn't a dealer but suffice it to say that I had my order in fairly early and, apparently, quite a while before production began. :)

Fingers crossed and just hoping to be blown away by the sound. Considering I was told that the Blackgates require around 500 hours break in, I hope it will be here relatively soon so I can insert it into a system in my shop and play a tuner through it 24/7 for three weeks to take care of that. So after I get it, I won't be able to listen to it at its best for another 3 weeks! If in fact I am blown away by the sound quality, I'll be very happy, regardless of the amount of time it took to get it, provided it doesn't go over the 12 months I prepared myself for. :)
 
Hi folks - I am one of those "waiting forever on a new AI preamp" - yes regrettably biased by their stellar reputation for product I did not do my homework about delivery when I ordered a new L3B with a decent discount for a trade-in for my old L1 (that had issues and I shipped it to AI for testing). TBH I would not have done that had I known about how long it takes to get one (yes, their site says expect 2-4 weeks - right!!). I ordered in early Feb, and with each call, got numerous stories from Jerry (all of them believable and unfortunate given the current environment) about supply chain delays, flu, etc etc. I wonder if those who ordered earlier and were "expecting" delivery during the last few months actually got the preamps - to confirm that AI is actually functioning even if at a limited production capacity. Thanks for any insight!
 
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