I have never heard of this company.
They were at RMAF with the Kaiser Acoustics speakers.
Problem is that they don't have a lot of distribution here. First heard them three years or so ago at RMAF and tried to get them for review. Got nowhere with trying to communicate via email. No answer. They are I think now distributed by Eastwind Imports.
I think you will get more help by contacting Mike at Precision Audio in Moorpark, CA. He puts together some of the "Best at Show" at many audio venues, pairing Venture speakers, Concert Fidelity preamps with Hegel amps and Weiss Engineering DACs.
I have never heard of this company.
Know Mike well.
I am having a listen to a friends LSX as he has upgraded to a LSX-2.
Sound wise it is excellent. I like the clarity and lack of bass weight yet it does not sound light weight at all. It still sounds nice and balanced with the vocals a bit up front
However the large volume control steps and a total lack of a mute is mind boggling frustrating. There is a mute, but all it does is turn the volume down to zero each time, so you are forced to flick an unused input a best compromise. I know it is all about the music, but this too me is a game breaker.
Does anyone know of a similar sounding pre amp with a good remote , fine volume steps and mute that works.
How does it compare to your GAT?
I have had the LSX 2 coming on close to a year moving up from the LSX.
It just does more of what the LSX gives would be a simple way of putting it across. Most noticable is the darker background.
@turntable - it took Masa-san (owner/designer) about 15 years of his life to get the volume control up to the expectations he wanted. Unfortunately the mute works the way it does, as it does not then interefere with his philosophy of the shortest signal route and probably a degredation to the performance.
When Steve Hoffman and Dick Olsher used it as a reference, and HP viewed the performance in a top 5 component level (this was the LSX version)
it was the sound/performance that got them.
Others have gone on to more dearer pre-amps due to a need for balanced designs, but here I am talking about AR anniversary, Ypsilon?, etc. one I knew who did still felt that the CF was up there without a doubt in that level.
Enjoy the performance while you have it.
On sound quality alone it is quite similar on my prem8a's. The gat has more bass weight, the cf more forward in the vocals area. The cf is more open between the upper bass and mids. The cf is more responding to tube changes.
I preferred the cf over the gat on the ss prem350.
Both excellent sounding pre amps.
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