Lyra Connoisseur 4.2L

perart1

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2012
118
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Cheltenham
I might have a chance to buy a Lyra connoisseur 4.2L line stage. I already have the phonostage. As I believe that gain marching between the pre and power amp is critical; I was wondering if anyone on the forum can tell me the gain of the line stage. There is little information out there apart from an informative thread on the history of the product.

Regards

Peter
 

Sablon Audio

Industry Expert, VIP Donor
May 22, 2015
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Iirc Peter, HiFi+ reviewed this pre some time ago and you may find the relevant information in there. I may have the back issue knocking around if you want a copy.

Btw nice town Cheltenham. My daughter was offered an academic scholarship by the Ladies College last year but went wobbly about boarding.
 

zbub

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2013
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333
I had one of these for about two years. Gorgeous preamp and with such clean and pure sound. I regretted selling it a little bit. Would have been cool to keep it.
IIRC I think the gain is around 23 to 24dB? Seems a little high but it didn't sound so in my system at that time (FM Acoustic amp and Wilson X1 speakers). Another fact worth mentioning is that because the 4.2L SE is a single ended design, I used its RCA outputs to FM's XLR inputs (their amps don't have RCA inputs at all), so I lost 6 dB of gain there. The gain structure before the 12 o'clock mark are in smaller increments, and after that one can notice larger gain (volume) changes. I regularly listened with the 4.2L SE with volume settings between 10 to 2 o'clock positions. Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:

perart1

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2012
118
42
935
Cheltenham
Yes....thank you for that. I remember the Hi Fi+ article when it came out originally. In fact Roy Gregory brought the phono stage round many years ago so I did hear it before I bought it 12 years later! Cheltenham Ladies College (actually a co-ed School), one of the finest schools in the country.

Peter
 

perart1

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2012
118
42
935
Cheltenham
Hi zbub. That is very helpful. Especially so, given that i can not find any info on any of the forums that discuss the technical details of the Lyra products. My power amplifier ideally likes to see 15db from the line stage. Obviously the line would work well with the phono but might be too much for the amp.

Did you replace it with the FM line stage?

Peter
 

BruceD

VIP/Donor
Dec 13, 2013
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Indeed one of the few products that are keepers purely because they do nearly everything right--and don't get in the way of the Music presentation.

I have a friend with this---one of the original Peter Mares Phono versions-- absolutely wondrous easily one of the two best Phono stages ever made (in my book anyway)

I would not hesitate to buy the Line Stage offered Perart1 ---if I was in position to do so!

BruceD

Mares1.jpg
 

Loheswaran

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2014
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I have the back issues of hifi plus - can I just add that you should speak to the guys at Lyra - they will be very helpful - there is a great thread about the phono stage on WBF. PM me and I can arrange for you to have copies of the articles.
 

zbub

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2013
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333
Hi Peter, I went against the conventional wisdom and went with a Soulution 721. I thought FM pre/power combo in my system, smooth and musical as they were, lacked a bit of the dynamic, slam, and bass control of Soulution. If I could afford it I would have gotten a full blown Soulution at that time, but it is what it is, and the FM amp is still a fantastic sounding amp anyway.
I never had/tried 4.2 Phono in my system, but if the gain in 4.2L SE is that high, I can imagine the gain in 4.2 Phono to be on the lowish side, probably 60 to 64 dB max, making the 4.2L/Phono combo a better match with one another. But like I said before, even though I lost 6 dB of gain going with RCA to XLR, the 4.2L SE really didn't sound like it had too much gain in my system.

Hi zbub. That is very helpful. Especially so, given that i can not find any info on any of the forums that discuss the technical details of the Lyra products. My power amplifier ideally likes to see 15db from the line stage. Obviously the line would work well with the phono but might be too much for the amp.

Did you replace it with the FM line stage?

Peter
 

perart1

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2012
118
42
935
Cheltenham
Now that is a thing of rare beauty.......A Connoisseur 2.0 went for sale in Japan for £4,500 recently. I was surprised to see it there as I did not think that they travelled well.

Peter

Indeed one of the few products that are keepers purely because they do nearly everything right--and don't get in the way of the Music presentation.

I have a friend with this---one of the original Peter Mares Phono versions-- absolutely wondrous easily one of the two best Phono stages ever made (in my book anyway)

I would not hesitate to buy the Line Stage offered Perart1 ---if I was in position to do so!

BruceD

View attachment 38706
 

perart1

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2012
118
42
935
Cheltenham
Yes and thanks. I have followed the thread on the phonostage and the history behind its development as well as the various iterations of the linestage. There is also a good thread on the diy forum that goes into some detail regarding the technical design and thinking behind it, with contributions from JC.

Peter

I have the back issues of hifi plus - can I just add that you should speak to the guys at Lyra - they will be very helpful - there is a great thread about the phono stage on WBF. PM me and I can arrange for you to have copies of the articles.
 

Audiocrack

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2012
2,177
687
1,158
Indeed one of the few products that are keepers purely because they do nearly everything right--and don't get in the way of the Music presentation.

I have a friend with this---one of the original Peter Mares Phono versions-- absolutely wondrous easily one of the two best Phono stages ever made (in my book anyway)

I would not hesitate to buy the Line Stage offered Perart1 ---if I was in position to do so!

BruceD

View attachment 38706


Beautiful picture of an undoubtedly beautiful piece of audio equipment. I am (still) the proud owner of a Lyra Connoisseur 4.2 phonostage but this unit of Peter Mares started it all. Never heard Peter’s ‘piece de resistance’ under controlled circumstances but I would not be surprised at all if this unit can (still) compete with all the ‘big phono guns’ of current vintage.
 

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