Lamm, Cary and Parsifal Encore - what combo?

Thanks for the update Steve, I'm glad you are enjoying the rig. I thought the Hovland would make a great match, though I am currently using a ARC Ref 3 myself. If you are not using the phono stage, why not just take the tubes out and save the wear altogether? They may come in handy later in 'emergency duty'.
Are you still running the Legend Audio triode monos? How do you like them?

For that little more air, you may want to try either some silver ribbon cables (RSAD) or some of the Jade Audio Vermeil or Hybrid gold/silver cables, Gabriel Gold Revelations may also work for you. Personally, I would recommend the latter two. I found that silver, while initially enjoying the new transparency, eventually I preferred the gold mixed with the silver. Better extension than the PAD cables, but still truer harmonics than pure silver. The Jade Audio Hybrid's are the best I've yet heard, but can be a little pricey. The Vermeil is a steal at it's asking price, IMHO. You have 30 days to decide for yourself.

John

hey john. yep, still running legend audio triodes. everything sounds great, but the amps are new, the preamp is new, and the speakers are relatively new, so i'm still settling into the sound. it's incredibly open, very 3 dimensional, great balance from top to bottom, good imaging which probably could be a ton better with some room treatments, and actually a nice tight bottom end, the top end maybe could be a little more open, definitely think mullards all throughout is not the way to go. i'm sort of curious to see what a higher powered amp could do, but i think i'm sitting with what i've got for a while. RE: the cabling... not sure i want to swap cables, i really love the PAD sound. would rather swap out some tubes... overall less expensive, at least imho.

Steve, you are correct, swapping tubes is definitely cheaper. I didn't really notice that you were using Mullards throughout, yes this would be a good place to start. I've always been more of an Amperex fan myself, though Siemens will also give you more life up top. Mullards are great if you have a tad too much high end, but not so much so if you seek more sparkle, IMHO.

what amp are you using john w/ your parsifals? the legend triodes are 42w/ch, which is fine for fairly high listening levels, but i definitely am missing some slam and authority on rock. i thought maybe somewhere i saw you were using nagra vpas.... are these 50w enough for you?

i have no expierience with the ll2 directly, however i have owned an Emotive Poeta before my current Lamm L1 preamp, and it was good riddence to the Poeta pre. The bass was out of whack in timing and presentation, but the mids and highs were good. But by no means was the Poeta in any league as the L1. Period.

Not the specific models you are inquiring about, but my first had expierience.