Agree it's frustrating. I have emailed LM now directly. Hopefully they can help out. I've not had any need for the USB connection before, but now when the Tidal masters MQA has been released I need to get it to work.
I hope they respond. If they don't, I would email Jonathan Halpern at Tone Imports. If it is a problem for you, then it is probably a problem for a bunch of his dealers and their customers.
Selling my 518ia if anyone is interested. One condition, though: you give me the opportunity to buy it back in a few years (just kidding, mostly). I'll miss that amp. It's the best I've owned and probably the most I'll ever need.
My daughter was born in March and my time in the sweet spot has gone down drastically, so I'm downsizing for the time being. I employed a solid state Rotel power amp I had laying around and purchased a Mytek Brooklyn DAC/Pre/Phono Pre/Headamp. Reduced box count and it's something I can leave on 24/7 and sneak in an album here and there.
Andy could you pm me the driver or e-mail it to me. [email protected] I am glad they got back to you quickly. I think a lot of people are going to need this if and when they upgrade to Windows 10. cheers,
Hooked the Mytek Brooklyn up as a preamp for the 518 and put the Snells back in place (setting aside the Rotel amp and Vienna Acoustics speakers). Very quickly remembered what I like about this amp so much. Not sure I can sell it. The downside is I probably need to bite the bullet and purchase new speakers to have the best of both worlds.
knowing very little about circuits: if I'm using the pre-in option on the 518ia, are the rectifier tubes and preamp tubes doing anything at all? (should I toss some junk tubes in those spots?)
Interesting question. I think about how stand-alone tube amplifiers have preamp/driver tubes as well, so probably?
interesting, thanks. so the 12AX7's are still influencing the sound? Is it just a passive attenuator in there?
how come the 210ia never gets any love? a few years ago demoed the 210 with o96's and really liked it. miss my line magnetic gear and always tempted to get back in.
The lower power output of the 210 puts it in a smaller target audience due to limited speaker selections that would truly work well with it....but it is a really nice piece of gear (and at a killer price point).
An update: after over a year of using the 16-ohm taps for my Harbeths, I have switched to the 4-ohm taps. I think I will be leaving it here long-term. The bass grip is even better, and I am no longer noticing any speed loss like I did between the 8- and 16-ohm taps before the amp was fully broken in. Since the Harbeths are 6-ohm designs, it makes sense that the 4-ohm taps would be the best match. I would encourage anybody using a Line Magnetic amp with Harbeths to give the 4-ohm tap a try. Really, I am astonished every day at how incredible this amp sounds.
I just want to thank you all for the incredibly helpful comments. I just purchased the 518IA from my neighborhood dealer, and currently waiting on delivery. They had a few units finished in all black, so I picked one of those. The comments about NOS tubes are exactly what I was looking for - based on the Stereophile review, I already secured the Bugle Boy 5AR4/GZ34. I took a look at a few NOS 845s, but man, I might as well buy a new amp for that kind of money!
I did roll quite a few combos through... I ended up long term with the WE845, GE 6L6GC, Mullard 10M 12AX7, and the Philips 5R4GYS rectifier. That particular combo really does it for me.
They don't have the grip in the bass that RCA blackplates do, but they do have more dimensionality, equal mids, and a little sparkle that is very nice. And I got the bass grip back by using the Philips rectifier, which is the absolute Bass Master of rectifiers. With the RCA's and the WE845's in there, the Philips makes some music too dark. Too much of a good thing. The GE's introduce that 3D effect and bring a nice balance across the rest of my tube choices. It's all a balancing act, and it is so cool that the 518 can be customized to each owner's tastes!
