Lamm LL2 tweaks?

I have Lamm M1.2 hybrid mono blocks & Ayre K-1xe preamp & Wilson Sophias. I have tried many cables, and the absolute best by far have been the Purist Anniversaries. Ridiculously expensive, but the improvements they have brought are hard to believe. The Purist Proteus Provectus Praesto may work nearly as well for less than half the price.

It is possible they may be a little too rich sounding with the MC275s & Lamm preamp, but would not know without trying them.

thanks for your input. Those ICs are indeed expensive compared to the value of my components, but I will keep them in the list.

I'm surprised nobody has chimed in in regards to tube rolling, vibration control, or power cords. Anyone?

Thank you!
Horacio

I had the LL2.1 Deluxe in-house for a few months and rolled through several different NOS 6DJ8 family members. I concluded from the impressive results of doing so that, were I to be an LL2 owner, such a swap out would be mandatory. I had no 12AU7s on hand to try but speculate similar result. If you're familiar with the house sound of 6DJ8/6922/7308 brands you know what they do, and likewise that choosing one over the other is a matter of personal taste. Amperex Orange Globes,and Valvos worked very well. Best to my ears were Siemens 7308s (late '60's if I recall) which yielded distinctly improved image specificity and upper octave extension.

Wrt dampers I don't know that their use would be any more or less preamp specific than with any other unit. Herbies' dampers work well.

The Lamm's built in AC filters may mitigate the effect of some power cords. My suggestion is first to learn its character with the stock cord and then experiment. I used a Shunyata Python coming from a Shunyata V-Ray with positive results.

Feed your most used source to the Direct input. I heard it as ever so slightly clearer compared with the Line input.

Congrats on the upgrade - the LL2.1 is a real sweetheart.
 

I own an LL2 preamp, changed the 6922 tubes for NOS ones and got different but not better sound from stock ones.

I am using a Siltech SPX30! PC and that changed the preamp in a much better way, open, fast and more a more liquid presentation.

No footers so far.

Thanks all for the input!

Tvad: I recall an older post of yours where you stated the LL2 was rather inmune to power cord upgrades. Maybe that perception changed after trying the Dominus?

For those who noticed an improvement from tube rolling: which tubes should I roll first? The 12AU7, 6922 or 6X4?

I'm certainly going to try it stock first and then go from there.

Keep the feedback coming!

Tvad,

Please don't take my reply as a challenge. It certainly is not! I appreciate your input. I have been digging the archives for info so I had some background prior to posting.

I went back and searched, and searched, and I could find nothing! I was going nuts! I was about to quit digging when I remembered I had also searched the asylum, and there it was: June 22, 2006. http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=amp&n=97660&highlight=tvad+ll2+immune&r=

But then again, I did not mean to challenge you. Changing points of views based on further experience is good, in my book.

Regards,
Horacio

Hey, Tvad, I have used that "well...I was drunk at the time" line, but in different settings...mostly related to ladies and stuff. Oh well!!

I take you were feeding power direct from a dedicated line thru the Ferrox, right? (ie, no power conditioning)
Did you also used Purist Audio ICs? Did you noticed much sensitivity to the type of IC used?

Thanks!

Again, while I don't have the Lamm preamp, I have the M.12 hybrid amps. Each of them has its own dedicated main, a Purist Anniversary connects the main to a Transparent PowerIsolator MM and a Purist Anniversary connects the PowerIsolator to the M1.2. I have tried connecting them directly to the dedicated main, but the sound became muddy by comparison. I started with the top-of-the-line Transparent PCs, moved on to Virtual Dynamics Revelations, then to Stealth Dream, then to Purist Anniversary. The Anniversaries were much better than the other PCs.

All of the NOS tubes I've had are better than the stock Russian tubes. The best of the NOS tubes were the pinched waist Amperex and the CCA.

I also rolled ICs, and found the Purist Anniversaries by far the best, even much better than the Dominus. The last Anniversaries I installed were the SCs and they made an order of magnitude difference, but I can't say how much of that is solely due to the SCs and how much is due to the synergy of an all Anniversary system.