Just purchased a SF Line 3 SE and Power 3, from an authorized dealer here on AudiogoN. Over the past couple of years I’ve tried several preamps (and Amps), such as Levinson 380s, AR LS 25, Krell KRC. Although I have only had the Line 3 SE, Power 3, for a few days, I can say that so far it’s awesome. The Krell was getting old, so I sold it for Levinson gear. I had a problem with the 380s, where I was getting occasional brownouts in my neighborhood and this would cause the 380s to come out of standby and power itself on. Since the 380s was connected to a Levinson 336 amp, it would power on the amp as well. This was an intermittent problem that Madrigal couldn’t resolve. Next I tried Audio Research. Couldn’t get used to the fan noise in their amps, and the LS 25 had a noisy transformer buzz. So now it’s SF Power 3 and Line 3 SE. Now this is just my opinion based on my (limited) experience, but the SF combination sounds as good and in some ways better than my previous gear, and the purchase price of this equipment is thousands less! The SF is very musical, no fan noise, no transformer buzzes, and the Line 3 SE has a nice rotary volume control knob (not spring loaded like AR). I have listened to SF and BAT equipment at an Audio retailer. The regular Line 3 was an excellent product, and now the SE version is even better. My other choice was BAT, but the 50SE is much more expensive (even used), and to my ears not necessarily better the SF. BAT amps are great, but I wanted more wattage and a pair of BAT 150SEs is too expensive for me. I think if you are on a somewhat limited high end budget, the SF gear offers the best sound quality and value for the money. For now, my SF is being used along with B&W N802, Sony 777ES SACD and Transparent Ultra cables.
