Yeah. I realized the futility of it all about 1/3 of the way into this exercise. But I did manage to start selling some gear that I'm just not using anymore, to finance the Leben and Klyne. Already this morning I have switched out the Harbeths for the Cabasse speakers, just to hear a difference from last night. Unlike the owner of Musique Gourmet, I think I'm more interested in differences than in perfecting everything. If I'm in the mood to set it up and leave it, the Quad/Gradient system with a tube amp on the ESLs and the Levinson on the subwoofers, with the Mietner CDSA as source, is among the best systems I have ever heard period. But what's the fun in having my living room taken over by the stereo-monster? Ok, it's fun but not for all the time.
Leben. Thinking something drastic here.
- Thread starter JohnVF
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Yeah. I realized the futility of it all about 1/3 of the way into this exercise. But I did manage to start selling some gear that I'm just not using anymore, to finance the Leben and Klyne. Already this morning I have switched out the Harbeths for the Cabasse speakers, just to hear a difference from last night. Unlike the owner of Musique Gourmet, I think I'm more interested in differences than in perfecting everything. If I'm in the mood to set it up and leave it, the Quad/Gradient system with a tube amp on the ESLs and the Levinson on the subwoofers, with the Mietner CDSA as source, is among the best systems I have ever heard period. But what's the fun in having my living room taken over by the stereo-monster? Ok, it's fun but not for all the time.
Art K.
The Voodoo You Do!
Oh you misunderstand my friend. Don was interested in it all. He had more than one system in a beautifully designed and decorated (but very small) home. Last time I spoke with him, his main 2 channel rig consisted of Magnepan 20.1's, Levinson amps and so on. he also had a state of the art multi channel system for his classical DVD-A's, SACD's and DVD's. He loved it all...hope he still does.
A little history of Don Lambdin and the Musique Gourmet.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Musique+Gourmet+serving+its+last+classics.-a0166549623
Transparent. No particular flavor at all. My main system isn't like the Leben chase...its more about that whole 'absolute sound' no color thing. A friend of mine who owned one for a long time, and who recommended it to me, said he could only describe it as sounding 'right'. And that's it. It just sounds right. The McCormack TLC-1 is transparent, too...more than anything else I had before it. This is at least as transparent, but being an active preamp it has better dynamic performance but it doesn't seem to harm anything. More lively but the same lack of coloration. I wanted an active that sounded like the McCormack passive. That is what I got...but I wasn't prepared for how much more clarity I was in for.
You should see the inside of this thing (I don't want to stop listening to take pictures tonight). It's the cleanest looking thing, as far as parts layout and attention to detail that I've seen.
Internally I can flip a few switches to tailor the gain to my amp in a few levels, or make it into a buffered passive with no gain at all, and the phono stage has a bunch of dip switches to tailor the stage specifically to almost any cartridge.
The best kind of 'you are there' sound. Or they are here, really. Right here.
Thank you. I hate to admit it, but if the phono stage is as fantastic as everybody says it is, my main system is...done? What an odd feeling. And the Leben hopefully finishes the second system. What will I do? I guess I'll have to just listen to music.
I don't know if it's been mentioned in this thread, but apparently the Leben phono stage borrowed liberally (i.e. copied) from Stu Hegeman's H/K Citation I/IV design.
It was mentioned in another thread, but I don't think its been mentioned in this one. Something to look into down the road. Greatness is timeless.
It makes me want to get my Citation IV working even more, even if it already has been promised in a trade.
That's one reason I'm hanging onto my ARC SP-3a1 even though I'm not particularly fond of it as-is. I think that if it were in tip-top shape, it could be fantastic. Right now it's pretty lackluster even though its had some work done to it. I'd get that Citation working before I traded it...
just dave
vintage rules!
Holy crap?!?! From you means it must be something really special!:tresbon:
It is something very special. I'm kind of shocked how much nicer it sounds than any other preamp I've had, and I have had (and still have) a lot of preamps. Better imaging. Better dynamics. Better bass performance (it's like the Levinson just woke up from being asleep...huh? what? OH! Let's make bass!). And transparency is on par with the McCormack, though a bit different. The McCormack sounds more open and 'airy' (sorry to those who hate audiophile subjective terms
). The Klyne is just, well, 'not there'. It manages to not sound like anything, while at the same time, just improving the performance of the whole system. Did I ever say how important I thought preamps were? I'll say it again. They make or break a system.
marantzfan
...
Finally! :thmbsp:
You realize that after this epic buildup we are going to require an Arkay-esque review.
You realize that after this epic buildup we are going to require an Arkay-esque review.
Finally! :thmbsp:
You realize that after this epic buildup we are going to require an Arkay-esque review.
The one problem is....I have the Klyne here to audition and decide if I want to buy it. And I have to go BACK to Los Angeles on Wednesday. And I have some work function Tuesday night. Which leaves me tonight to figure it out (the phono stage and gain adjustment on this preamp are kind of mind boggling. The store manager laughed at me when he gave me the owner's manual, having read it himself. We're friends, he's allowed to laugh at me, we have the same gear-disease).
So...I will be able to check it for functionality tonight so I can get the word back to the seller but beyond that...???...I will give a detailed review as soon as I can. This whole thing has become an exercise in patience, it really has been like 5am Christmas morning as a kid, wide awake waiting for my parents to wake up. Did I say how on Saturday I missed the closing of my mailroom by 5 minutes because my taxi from the airport got stuck in traffic 1/2 mile from my apartment? We were doing 75 mph on the expressway, unheard of around here, I thought we'd make it. Nope. I just looked in the window to the mailroom at the box that I thought must be it.
I was stationed at Naval Air Station Glenview back in the early 90s (just before it closed down..but anyway) I had my father send my Denon receiver and CD player to me from NY and while it was in transit the building with the post office burned down. It took several days to determine it wasn't in there...but man was I sweating it.
