I’ve listened to it with some pretty intense electronic music like Andy Stott, Raime, Aphex Twin, etc. Never are you thinking “I wish this was solid state for this”. Very fast and powerful but still has those SET qualities. I don’t know what makes that amp the way it is. Is it the sum of the parts or tube rectification or 845’s that make me love it’s sound? I don’t know enough about topologies and circuits to know,
Has anyone paired a Audio Note Kit DAC with the 518? I have a Gungnir MB but considering a Audio Note Kit 2.1, Audio Mirror Troubador III, or MHDT Orchid. Basically a NOS tube DAC.
Yes, it does... It is a little of this and a little of that. It's big sounding, because it is a BIG amp with BIG 845 power tubes and it still has those SET qualities, because it is an SET. When you get into single ended territory, at the end of the day, it is all about "iron". As you see, the 518iA has plenty of iron. Tubes like the 845's have a high plate voltage of around 1,000-Volts. It takes a large power supply to deliver the 1,000-Volts, along with the necessary amount of current. Then you have equally large output transformer iron. All of this works together. For my part, amplifier's with tube rectification have that extra bit of magic over amps that have SS rectification. By having the extra power, that the flea-watt SET amps are short on, you have many different speaker options and you have the power to have the dynamics that smaller SET amps just don't have (unless paired with ultra sensitive speakers). With the 518iA, LM has checked all of the applicable boxes...
Just ordered a Genalex U77 rectifier cause why not at $36 but ordered a nice Mullard fat base f31 1960 NOS. Looking forward to trying these out next week.
After reading a post where @IanL preferred the 16 ohm tap on the LM with his Harbeths I decided to try it since we have the same speakers. There is a slight difference in sound but It’s going to take some back and forth with the 8ohm to figure out what I’m hearing different. started researching it and found this: The only unusual aspect of its behavior is that, whereas I usually recommend that a tube amplifier be used with the lowest-value output-transformer tap that gives adequate loudness, the opposite is the case with the LM-518IA. Using its 16 ohm tap with 8 ohm speakers will give the lowest distortion, though the subjectively benign second harmonic will then be joined by some third harmonic.—John Atkinson
I did try all 3 speaker taps over time. In the end, I settled on the 8 and have used those for a long time. But I did not hear noticeable differences between them to be honest. And the C7es3’s are 6 ohm, not 8, as in JA’s quote. Not sure if that would change his advice or not.
sorry should have qualified. I didn’t mean his speakers were Harbeth, just a different 8 ohm, as we know the C7’s are 6, but the measurements do make it seems the distortion is lower at higher taps regardless of speaker. I’ve been testing and have gone back to the 8ohm tap as well. The 16 to me seem to be a little too clear on my ears (basically matching his assessment of less distortion)
Just got both rectifiers today. - Mullard fat base f31 1960 - new Genalex U77 guess I’ll start with the Mullard but man I hate the “burn in” process. I wanna listen seriously right away
They may not sound their best immediately, but you will hear the differences between these two tubes right away. They are very different from each other.
very true! So far I’m liking the Mullard better, just a bit fuller and not as bright as the genalex at this point. To convolute things even more I’ll be adding a new pair of 845’s in tomorrow night, so those will need to break in too. Ugh I’ll reveal those with a pic when they are in my hand
When I put 845Bs in mine, the difference was immediately apparent. I didn't notice a break in on them really, but I wasn't paying attention as they sounded so good out of the box.
i have the standard ones that came with the LM and marked Line Magnetic on the tubes. They sound great but they are my only reference. im waiting on the new ones... the Psvane 845T-II Black Bottle special editions from Grant Fidelity. Thought since they ship from Canada I wouldn’t have to risk as much as direct from China. *side note. I paid for the $25 “express shipping” that GF offers. It’s very misleading. There’s nothing express about it. All it is is the tracked packaged shipping 7 day vs no tracking. There are two higher levels of Canada post which are expedited and Xpress-post. When using the term “express” I’d think you’d get the expedited or xpress shipping. So if you ever buy from them just know it’s only basic tracking you’re paying extra for.
I haven’t heard your new ones (and don’t get me started on Grant Fidelity), but that Genelex rectifier paired with the stock LM 845s gave me the most beautifully saturated tonal colors I ever achieved in all the combos I tried. I wish I could get that same level of saturation using my preferred tube combo. Everything is a trade off, of course.
how long did the Genalex take to break in? I had it in about 8hrs but was anxious to hear the Mullard (at 4x $$$) and have just kept it in. I should prob pop the Genalex back in for a while
I would just leave it in for a couple weeks of heavy listening. Then switch it out for the Mullard, and it should be more apparent by removing it what it was doing differently. The Genalex is never going to be as refined as the Mullard. It will always be a little rough around the edges. But it will give more energy in the frequency extremes than the Mullard, especially the highs. The Mullard is the midrange king though. And at least with the metal base, extremely refined.
Got these puppies today about 1hr ago. Turned the bias down a tad first, popped them in and after 10 min set bias. They were both steady already even before I set 70 bias so that’s good news. Will let them play while I watch the college football game.
Hello. I'm new to this forum, and rather late to this thread I'm fully aware. But to new and old residents I samt to chip in with my findings. First things first: This rather informative LM 518ia thread has finally made me make up my mind to have the LM 518ia, amongst others for practical reasons. (Originally wanting to have the bigger and much heavier LM 219ia) Without further ado - to the point: Many you 518ia owners would love to find a FR single driver one-way speaker which is not compromised the way most all are to pair with LM 518ia's 22watts/ch. I've aleays been amongst others a very huge FR afficionado due to their inherent coherence, unparallelled midband, dynamisk and sheer "driveability". Having in my Collection most every holy grail vintage 8" there is. I've made several decent stabs, at getting what I could from these in order to try and cover as much of the bandwidth as possible. (Some (755A's in particular) being ruined if tried to.) Last summer I was offered a pair of Tue latest addition to the german Heco Direkt speakerline; the full range driver "Einklangs". As the name indicates a speaker with just one(ein) driver. For the perhaps first time ever I heard a practically FULL RANGE sound from a light paper cone 8" single driver. On paper freq. range from the low thirties up till 19.kHz in a manageable size BR floor stander. Having retained almost every quality of the famous vintage FR drivers. (One audio buddy with the same midrangey tastes as I let go of his beloved ESL57 as the Einklangs give very little away in the midband in exchange for unparallelled - by FR standards - freq. extremes) That'a how brilliant these Einklang speakers are. So to every DHT SET owner I'll recommend giving the Heco Direkt Einklangs a serious listen. (To Richard A. That'a coming from a guy who in the mid nineties build the AN UK range E, J and K at the factory in Hove, UK . And still own a perfect matched (<= +/- 0.01db!) of the then top of the range AN-E SPz SE SILVERS) Cheers and Happy Listening from DK.
Those are now discontinued models. I would suggest reading this article from 1.5 years ago which has most of the current line-up. Line Magnetic LM-88IA, LM-150IA, LM-845IA, LM-805IA and LM-845 Premium – part 1
So with less than 10hrs on the new Psvane 845TII’s I’m amazed. I didn’t know what to expect, just thought they’d sound a little better than the stock tubes (which are fine) but there’s just so much more there to like. I have them in with the Genalex U77 rectifier, and I’ll just leave that combo in and let them play for 4-5hrs a day until they get 50+ hours on them before I start changing/playing around. I also got a fuse in the mail the same day but thought it best to not put the fuse in until full burn in of the tubes. read good things about these and at $15 shipped not a bad way to check it out. AMR Audiophile Gold Hi-Fi Fuse 20mm x 5mm
So I guess I’m a believer is tube burn in. The first 10hrs the Psvane’s sounded good, then they hit a flat wall, and at about the 50hr mark they are sounding like a completely different tube, for the better. Should be interesting the next 40hrs. I’ve yet to put the gold fuse in as I don’t want to change things too much at once.
Anyone know if you can use 12AT7’s in the 518 instead of 12ax7’s? I know they are similar but not exactly the same.
I thought I would drop this here for all you Line Magnetic fans Christian Punter just reviewed their apparently very brand new phono stage the LP-33. Line Magnetic LP-33 MM/MC Phono Stage
