Line magnetic 518a

Without question, I prefer the 518ia. The Yamaha is a great amp, but the Line Magnetic has more of everything. I'm not great with flowery audiophile descriptions, but everything sounds more alive through the LM. Wood sounds like wood, brass sounds like brass.
The most unexpected things about the LM to me is how fast it is and how great the bass is.
I assumed I'd lose a little speed and bass tightness/depth, but I actually had an improvement in both areas

 

Thanks for the reply...! It get's pretty hot where I'm going to be living and my small listening room would probably get cooking in the summer, so maybe keep the Yamaha for hot July days and when it gets cold in the winter...which it does...get that great LM going. I'll have to look into a dealer here in Oregon. From what I understand they really don't get discounted much? Take care and have a wonderful birthing!

 

not sure what kind of speakers you have, but if need a summer amp and don't want to spend A-S2000 money, these are pretty great, albeit limited in inputs:

New TPA3116 HIFI 2.0 Stereo Output Digital Power Amplifier 50Wx2 Color Silver »

 

I'd drop some NOS Mullard 12ax7's in there to take the edge off.

 

I thought I'd share my experience of buying the LM 518ia via Cattylink. I was a little worried after reading some negative posts, however as Cattylink were quoting $1655 delivered to the US....I couldn't resist.

I paid my money via wire transfer and communication was excellent throughout. They did the 2-3 day unit test and advised when ready to ship. It left Hong Kong Monday night and was on my doorstep in Houston on Wednesday morning!

Unit was packaged as if ready for Nuclear war! Original LM box inside and the beautiful LM 518ia was on my rack within 10 minutes of unpacking.

Sound with Stock tubes is nothing short of staggering. I am looking forward to tube rolling.

When you think that this amp is being sold in the US by some dealers for $4500, you have to wonder what exactly you are getting for the mark up? I hear people cry lack of warranty, but as far as I understand the warranty is honored by Cattylink. As others have said, the amp is bombproof, so I think any risk is minimal.

I'm so glad I took the "risk" with Cattylink. I wish other dealers in the US offered as good a service. I will have no hesitation in using them again.

Stuart

 

I you have to send a 70lbs. amplifier back to Hong Kong for repairs, that shipping would probably be near $500.

 

Yep. He better pray he doesn't have any issues.

 

Why would he send it back? He can buy almost 3 of them for the price of 1 purchased here. I say CONGRATS for sticking it to the greedy importers who jack up all these prices by ridiculous amounts. Accuphase gear costs almost 2X in the USA as Japan simply because of the raping and pillaging of the importer. Why the need to jack up the price by 2.5X on LM gear is beyond me.

 

i don’t really have a problem with people doing that, it’s not much different than buying off of audiogon. my pet peeve is when people post them for 3k where they bought them from cattylink for $1600

 

Don’t you have to run a 220v step down too?

 

Why? Any repair outfit can fix a tube amplifier - so long as the transformers are fine - everything else in a tube amp - is fairly cheap to repair - Most good dealers are also repair shops - I buy Audio Note from an Audio note dealer in Hong Kong - if something goes wrong they aren't shipping it back to England - they will repair it on site. Under warranty it is free - not under warranty I will get charged.

And as Billion$Baby pointed out - you can do a lot of repairs for the $3,000 you save.

The problem for dealers in the west when they do business with China is the same thing that happened when I reviewed the Grant Fidelity Tube DAC 9. There were about 5 versions of this DAC on the market - the GF model was $300 or so and the others were $150. Everyone was on about this on audio forums - GF offered a 3 year warranty I think versus 1 but you can't blame someone for saying gee I'll take the risk and if it fails I'll simply buy a second brand new one and it still costs the same! It's the same thing with Vincent Audio and Shengya - Everything is made by Shengya -- I remember their hybrid CD player from years back - Vincent then came out with their tube hybrid CD player claiming to have invented the hybrid technology - problem was the Shengya model existed 4 years prior to Vincent even being a company. The parts inside were exposed for being fakes. But when I pointed this out - instead of people being bothered the manufacturer rooked them they got pissed at me for pointing it out to them. Lamizator took the CD player apart and noted that it wasn't even a hybrid - the tube is just for show - it lights up LOL. Vincent CD-S6 CD player upgrade


Any importer or dealer looking at Chinese manufacturers to carry really has to do their homework because this is the information age and it is quite easy to find out if the same thing is being offered cheaper to a different market. Grant Fidelity though caught on fast and so what they did was have independent models made. So an amplifier was made with the GF logo and no other - exclusive models made only for them. Many Chinese companies are OEM makers so it's not a big deal for them to make exclusives.

Line Magnetic makes the Triode Lab Japan amplifiers for example. But you'll notice that the amplifiers are quite different both in design and looks Triode Production - Triode Corporation

So yes you can buy a Triode Lab amp but there is no "cheaper" version of the amp from Line Magnetic or 3 other companies - it's an exclusive Triode Lab amplifier with its design and looks.

I have contemplated doing something like Grant Fidelity or Tone Imports and opening shop and carrying some lines out of China but the above is a problem - it also kills resale value. If I buy a $4500 LM 518 that you can buy for $1650 from Cattylink - well do you buy my out of warranty second hand 518 or a new 518 for $1650 with a warranty. Either way, as a buyer I sure as poop ain't paying more that $1650 for a 518 on the used market!

It would make more sense to have LM build models specific to the west. Models with a different look, US voltage, that are not sold in China. This avoids the whole problem for the importers and dealers and it also helps keep the second hand value high which increases the prestige factor of the amplifiers. LM dealers typically carry Shindo - so they should know what I am talking about.

They don't even have to do major changes - Simply change the model number and maybe a few upgraded parts like the Chinese LM 219IA has basic parts and then have the USA model have Silver caps (my LM 219IA had silver caps and sounded better than the original factory version - the dealer here in HK made "Deluxe" versions so 219IA DX.

Indeed this happens with big makers too - there was a Canon DSL that was $1000 in the US and in Korea they sold the exact same Camera with a different name for $450. The ironic thing was that the Korean model was made in Japan shipped to the US then shipped to Korea - while the US model was made in a third world country (I forget which now) and Sold higher with less traveling. Bizarre.

 

Glad you are pleased with your purchase.

 

Some good points made here. I had used Cattylink before and had no issues. I did take a chance with the LM, especially as it was suggested by some that it might be fake. However 2 years on and I am very happy with the purchase. I also recognise it may be difficult to move on given there are no dealers here in the UK for LM products. But as you quite rightly point out - my reasoning was the same, other than the transformers everything is fixable by a competent engineer.

I have seen many Shengya products renamed and dressed up. Its quite interesting perusing Cattylink and other Chinese distributors sites, its possible to recognise many different products that have been sold under other names. I had noticed those Triode Lab products too, I had no idea LM made them. I have no idea what the story is regarding LM and Cattylink etc, but they ARE genuine products - it was obvious the moment I took the bottom off to inspect the guts of it.

I would like to get hold of a circuit diagram ( LM218 ), though I am thinking of biting the bullet on a 219...

The Psvane T mk2 tubes ( 211 ) have developed a slight hum after around 1200 hrs use. ( it is the tubes the originals do not hum ). Tube prices generally are becoming ridiculous and as much as I would like a pair of Elrogs I cannot justify it with this amp.

 

Looking at that Triode amp, it makes me wonder why Line Magnetic doesn't offer any balanced inputs on their 518ia. Their DAC (at least later versions of it) had balanced outs, so it seems like it would make sense to include at least one set of balanced inputs (like the Triode that they also manufacture).

 

I just took a look at the Cattylink site and apparently they only sell things with 220V, 230V, or 240V. I would absolutely not buy anything that would need to be used in conjunction with a step down transformer, especially a power amplifier. To each their own, I suppose.

 

I agree. But what if you were in Europe?

 

Our 220v brothers generally have it made, be it from gray market opportunities like this or just what seems to be a larger used market.

 

If in Europe, then by all means go for it. But I live here in the States, and hence wouldn't buy anything that's not 120/115/110V.

 

Cant speak for LM but there are plenty of brands (Accuphase/Eso etc) that have Multi Voltage capability. All you do is change the jumper from one position to another. Takes about 10 minutes and a case of beer to have a professional do this for you. My buddy takes all his Accuphase gear to a tech at a recording studio in NYC and he gets charged $20 per piece.

 

Of course there are certain items that can easily change voltage, like my Thorens TD-124. But the Line Magnetic amps can not be changed at all.

 

Old post but I got my 518 from Cattylink as well but they have gone silent/ moved to wholesale/ links not working on many items now. I assume they have a whole load of legal issues.

 

This is the same for Audio Note. Some companies use worldwide universal transformers so they can be easily changed. The companies who don't use universal transformers will usually give a claim that universal transformers aren't as good. Cough - but then Accuphase is one of the absolute best SS amplifier makers and IMO there is no better tube amp maker than Audio Note - so it throws a big ole fly into that Universal transformers are worse argument. Granted they may be deemed worse in their particular design.

As someone who has lived in 20 different homes since 1999 and Asia three separate times - this stuff matters a bit more to me than most others.

I really like that my KingKo amp has a voltage switch on the side - just flip it. If King can do that on an $800US amplifier it often frustrates me not to see it on far costlier amps.