So easily hooked up the Lumin direct taking the preamp out of the system and surprised to say it looks / sounds like a clear winner. Didn't want that to be the case as I love my tube preamp, paid a lot for it, and it has cool blue meters
Yeah, I worked for Magnolia for a short stint and they had the KEF Blades hooked up to Mac gear. I’d heard the Blades at shows and they’re quite impressive. Hooked up to tha Mac gear, it sounded mushy and slow and not at all like what I’d heard from the Blades at shows. Bottom line, I think you’re hearing what I heard and that you’d prefer a more detailed and neutral sound. But I also wouldn’t use the Lumin’s preamp. Preamps are hugely important to a system’s sound and I’m sure you can find a better preamp than the one in the Lumin. Look at brands like Pass Labs, Linear Tube Audio, Backert Labs, Audio Research, etc. and I think you’ll find Audio nirvana. The Mac is veiled , cloudy, and obscures detail, which is obviously not the case using your Lumin preamp section. Pretty blue meters aren’t worth un-involving sound, which I think is what you’ve now realized. Hope this helps, and best of luck in your search.
