Leben. Thinking something drastic here.
- Thread starter JohnVF
- Start date
I'm not sure why that made me laugh. But it made me laugh.
Me too! Very funny, Paul!
If i could afford it, I wouldnt mind one bit having a Leben amp or even trying a preamp....with the great speaks you have, you will be happy as a dog with two tails, or a cat with extra whiskers.:thmbsp:
Any Saturday that's not Nov. 5 would work for me.
Balifly
Listening
John,
Don't do anything till you have a chance to see for yourself their production facility.
At least do the factory tour.
http://lebenhifi.com/factorytour.html
They are located not far from Osaka.
Less than three hours on the Shinkansen Bullet train from Tokyo ( 2 hours 18-33 minutes )!
http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Amagasaki
Shinkansen to Osaka
http://www.seat61.com/Japan.htm
There are several nice Jazz clubs in Tokyo that features the Leben amp/products..........:yes:
( From what i have read ) :scratch2:
Don't do anything till you have a chance to see for yourself their production facility.
At least do the factory tour.
http://lebenhifi.com/factorytour.html
They are located not far from Osaka.
Less than three hours on the Shinkansen Bullet train from Tokyo ( 2 hours 18-33 minutes )!
http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Amagasaki
Shinkansen to Osaka
http://www.seat61.com/Japan.htm
There are several nice Jazz clubs in Tokyo that features the Leben amp/products..........:yes:
( From what i have read ) :scratch2:
John,
Don't do anything till you have a chance to see for yourself their production facility.
At least do the factory tour.
http://lebenhifi.com/factorytour.html
They are located not far from Osaka.
Less than three hours on the Shinkansen Bullet train from Tokyo ( 2 hours 18-33 minutes )!
http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Amagasaki
Shinkansen to Osaka
http://www.seat61.com/Japan.htm
There are several nice Jazz clubs in Tokyo that features the Leben amp/products..........:yes:
( From what i have read ) :scratch2:
I love that the 'factory' is the designer and his three sweet, modest looking lady friends. How odd is that? I want it even more now. I wonder if they are family?
A good friend of mine is trying to talk me out of it, instead reminding me that he can get a deal on the new Pass Labs preamp (not because he would profit, he's a rep). Hmm..I don't know that it would solve my issue, but one of my issues is that I find that my Marantz Reference preamp isn't quite to my liking.
I still think the Leben's going to be the winner.
Man, that thing's like $16.5K list new. You can generally get new/demo Pass equipment at about 2/3rds list no sweat, but you're still talking $10K for just the preamp...and it ain't even got a phono stage for that coin. I haven't even seen a used one yet, so you might not be able to even buy one for $10K.
Nah, we were talking about the one that's around $5,000. The XP-10, I think. If I could hear it at home, which is a possibility, I might be more persuaded and it would, in the end, be easier for me to acquire for less money with a trade in and discount, than the Leben. My friend has good taste in gear and knows his way around a stereo, but we have different taste- he leans more towards a big, impressive sound and I lean towards tonality, timbre and soundstage. He was with me when I bought the Levinson, actually...but that amp has always needed a different preamp than what I ended up using with it. Not to say that I couldn't tackle that problem another day, as I have plenty to run with it in the meantime.
C'mon John, if it's just the sound there are many ways to go other than the Leben besides the Pass stuff. Sometimes, with some people, there comes the point when you know there's all kinds of stuff that sounds great (or great enough) and other things begin to appeal, such as style. Which the Leben has in spades. But Pass? Who knows what it looks like and who cares, it's generically styled "high end", high quality gear.
I'm a bit confused about your two existing systems. Are the Quads in one room while the Harbeths are in another, in the same place, or is one system in Chicago and one in L.A.?
chicks
Lunatic Member
Nine pages devoted to John's current audio fantasy. Interesting. :scratch2:
cubdog
Yeah, what would Pink Freud's analysis be? :scratch2:
Actually there are three systems here. The Harbeths on McCormack & Dynaco, the Fisher X-202c with my Sony SS-m7s, and the Quads/Gradient subs, which are with the Levinson and a Luxman amp in my bedroom of all places.
I'd actually probably keep most of that gear but there's a good chance I'd sell the Levinson if the Leben works out. It sounds good but has absolutely zero personality (it looks like an HP computer from 1999, laying on its side). The gear in the closet would go away, and there's a lot of stuff in the closet.
Nine pages devoted to John's current audio fantasy. Interesting. :scratch2:
cubdog
I was thinking that today...wow, this thread went a bent longer than I expected. Part of me wishes I had the kind of money to just throw at something like this, but I don't- so I'm glad you're all here to think this through with me.
Nine pages devoted to John's current audio fantasy. Interesting. :scratch2:
cubdog
High-rise apartment in the city and a cool job that jet-sets him back and forth to L.A....not to mention a very impressive cache of top quality audio gear: Yeah, I'm living vicariously through these pages!
wash.and.dry
Active Member
I thought you liked the Marantz? And what happened to the Pioneer Elite that was in the bedroom?
It cracks me up that I know you had certain equipment in different places of your apartment. Weird.
It cracks me up that I know you had certain equipment in different places of your apartment. Weird.
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The reality is, I've been sitting at my desk in my office at work all weekend, in front of a tiny little, dying, Knight KG-240 tube amp the size of a small shoebox, with an annoying hum, playing MP3s, into Fostex monitors scored in a thrift store. And next stop is glorious Plano Texas, instead of LA...
So the real me wants to live vicariously through the imaginary me as well.