Lightspeed Attenuator - Best Preamp Ever?

My LSA has arrived it now does volume control for my Esoteric X-03 into a pair of tube Acoustat servo amps on my Acoustat X speakers.
Previously I was using the line inputs of my Manley Steelhead into the Acoustats.
The walwart is plugged into a Hydra 8,which is connected by a Shunyata Annaconda power cord into a FIM recptacle on a dedicated 20 amp line.The Acoustats are on another 20 amp line using more Annacondas into a Furutech GDX-gold receptacle.
The esoteric has an Annaconda digtal power cord going direct into the FIM 's other receptacle.
The LSA sits on 3 roller blocks atop the hydra and is plugged into one of the Hydra's digital recptacles.

Sorry about the long winded preamble, but if Iam doing something amiss in my set up, please advise me so that I can correct the error of my ways.

Now to my intial impressions.
After only a couple hours of listening,it's easy to hear the increased amount of detail.
The issue of volume seems to vary from cd to cd , something I hadn't noticed when I listened to cd prior to the LSPA.
I tend to listen at more modest levels,so the volume control is the lower side of 9, but this is not a problem, I'll take added detail retrieval as the trade-off.

There seems to be some extra lower bass punch on some cd's that I didn't notice before, and on some other cd's I felt there wasn't as much.
That's strange.

My intial take is that the Lightspeeed doesn't homogenize the sound as much as it was before, but not to discredit the Steelhead in any way.It's just that the differences between cds are more noticeable than before, or maybe it's my imagination?

Also, I had two wal warts to experiment, one had variable plugs and voltage settings, the other was fixed.
The fixed walwart was the more robust, the other a bit more edgy, zippy, depending on the cd this could be a mixed blessing.I stuck with the fixed version.

This leads me to speculate on how sensitive the Lightspeed is to what it's power by.
I run it into the digital receptacle of the Hydra 8, but will try one of the analog receptacles.

I too wonder about what battery power would sound like after my initial runs with the two different wall warts.
I've just read George's reccommendation,a bit late as I just sent him my take on the unit before coming to this thread.

Am I happy with the Lightspeed?
Definitely yes,for the money it is great,and the single input isn't a drawback,there's better isolation between sources this way(one reason why I wanted the cd player out of the Steelhead)maybe just a minor inconvenience,as is the lack of remote volume is for others.
Personally I'll take it as it's served up,all the better for the sonics.

I look forward as the hours pass, to judge whether the sound improves , but so far I am very pleased.

Hi Chuck,(Lacee) it is good to hear it got there safe and sound, and your initial listening session is positive. Please give us a more in depth review after a couple of more days, I think you will find even more will be discovered.
As for your findings of the sound difference of the two separate wall warts, I have an idea which may be the answer. One of them could be a Switchmode (SMP) and the other a Linear. Depending on quality of the Switchmode they can sound "zippy". As they can inject HF rubbish into the circuit by air or through the wiring.
They are hard to tell apart visually but usually for similar power (mA) eg: between 300mA to say 500mA ratings, a Switchmode wall wart will be much lighter than the a Linear wall wart.
Let us know how you go.
Cheers George

Thanks George for confirming that what I was hearing wasn't my imagination.

I've been on a "power first" approach to this hobby for the last few years,so it doesn't surprise me that the quality of the wall wart could affect the sound.

I hope to explore some alternatives,some of which
are twice the cost of the Lightspeed, but I'm no stranger to using ancilliaries that cost more than the components they are plugged into.

I feel your product is more than deserving of the best power they can get.
Perhaps something from you in the future?

From a weight perspective, the heavier one, the one with the ability to switch plugs of different sizes and switch values is the heavier,but it has the zingy sound.
But I'll try it again and see if I change my opinion now that the LPS has aged somemore.

What I really find interesting is how we ,audiophiles,seem to have a preference for colourations.
We all seem to want to find the special poridge that is just right,but that means something different to everyone.

Tube vs solid state,it's all colourations, trade-offs and preferences.Over the years we tend to find gear that is a comfortable fit,like a nice pair of well fitting shoes that we've grown accustomed to.
New shoes seldom feel the same as the old ones did,until they too are near their expiry date or fall out of fashion.

Audio gear is much the same.
What's new is either embraced or scorned,it's a revelation or it's snake oil.
It's just a re-badged version of something that came before it, or it's just not as good as they used to make back in the good old days.

But sometimes something does come along that seems to be out of step with what's been going on in audio over the last few years.

A product that sounds way better than it's price would lead you to believe.
A product that really doesn't fit into either the tube or solid state camp, and one that doesn't have as many sonic colourations as some of the best of each.

This I find is the most impressive characteristic of the LPS.
It just gets out of the way and lets you hear more of the cd and less of what the pre-amp is adding to the sound of the cd.
It's like a pre amp - not.

I'm not a newbie,here's a few of the pre amps I've owned,in different systems however.
Dynaco,RGR,Mark Levinson, CJ Premier 2,Audio Valve Eklipse,
Sonic Frontiers, Blue Circle Galatea,and I know I'm leaving some out,but perhaps there's a reason why I've forgotten those.

Everyone of those preamps were good, at least to my ears, and so is my present pre, the Manley Steelhead,which replaced a Sutherland PHD, which was no slouch either, but only a phono stage.
But they all had a "sound" which they imparted on the music.
I never really knew how much of a sound most highly regarded preamps have until I heard the LSP.

I'll have to rehash the old war horse terminology of "hearing things for the forst time in my cds", but that's an apt description of what the Lightspeed Attenuator does for me.

If you have assembled a decent system and you want to hear what those components really sound like, as oppossed to how they sound with added colourations, then I think you would be as pleased as I am with the Lightspeed.

I got George Lightspeed attenuator directly from him and is using with my Bryston 3bsst . earlier I was using Luminous Audio Axiom walker modded Passive Pre. In short , there is lot of improvements in terms of transparency of sound . Overall sound is also more smooth on ear .
Highly satisfied owner .
Thanks George for such a wonderful product at a budget price.

I just recieved my lightspeed this morning. First off, George does great business. He e-mailed me back three or four times a day in the beginning in order to answer any and all of my questions. Second, he over delivers on his promises. I was expecting it would take 5 to 7 weeks for me to recieve my lightspeed and it took about three weeks.

Now, for the sound. Talk about transparent and detailed! My system had some grunge, a little bit of mid range mud I guess you could say. Well it's all gone; all of it. My sound is so clear and transparent that if I had to stop here with the upgrades, I'd finally be satisfied. Everything from here (power cords, isolation footers for my components, more room treatments, analysis plus interconnects), it's all icing on the cake. I have finally got the sound I was after.

This "pre amp" is worth it's weight in gold. Don't buy one, buy two and give one to a friend. I'm serious, they're that good.

Thanks again, George!
:-)