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I bought these used form another fella a few months ago and replaced all of the tubes. They've had plenty of time to break in now and I wanted to share some high level general impressions and see if they jive with what others who've lived with these amps have experienced.
I moved up from the Cortese which I loved. The Cortese had this amazing sweetness and consistency where everything just sounded really amazing. For a little stereo amp, even the bass sounded great. The only weakness was that I felt that the Cortese just wasn't totally enveloping. I REALLY value the depth of the soundstage. I like that feeling of being sucked into the music. While the Cortese made everything sound absolutely wonderful, it just didn't always get me inside the music.
FYI, for context I also have the Shindo 604's, Vosne Romanee, Shindo Interconnects, A23 speaker cable, Brinkmann Oasis with Graham Phantom II Supreme and a Koetsu Blue Lace (stone body).
The Lafon's were the amps I did my original auditions with and the amp I coveted. So when a pair came up for sale, I jumped on them.
I won't belabor the point, but when they arrived they were not well packed and the tubes were bent & some were broken. I replaced all tubes and had a tech open the amps up and he had to re-solder a connection or two.
Once all of this was done and my speakers were adjusted, I got to listening. First thing I noticed was how enveloping the sound was. EXACTLY what I was looking for. Now, not all source material does this. But when the source material has that quality, the Lafon's are simply insane. I've had more than a few transcendental moments which I won't describe for fear that it would be used to put me in a mental ward one day.
That said, the issue I have is that the Lafon's seem to have one and only one sweet spot with regards to where the volume has to be on any given album. The music just doesn't sound all that great at low volumes and as soon as you go too loud, it starts to distort. You gotta get it just right or it seems off and usually "just right" means cranked pretty loud.
Now part of it may be that the Lafon's just sound so amazing when you have that enveloping source material and I'm subconsciously seeking that out on material that just won't ever get me there. But I can't help but wonder if this is just a weakness with this particular amp OR if maybe there's damage to the amp itself that is causing these subtle sonic annoyances.
The Lafon is still the most amp I've ever heard. But it lacks the consistent sweetness that my Cortese had, begs to be turned way up and is prone to some graininess if everything is not juuuuust right.
Any of you guys who have lived with this amp have similar or different experiences?
I moved up from the Cortese which I loved. The Cortese had this amazing sweetness and consistency where everything just sounded really amazing. For a little stereo amp, even the bass sounded great. The only weakness was that I felt that the Cortese just wasn't totally enveloping. I REALLY value the depth of the soundstage. I like that feeling of being sucked into the music. While the Cortese made everything sound absolutely wonderful, it just didn't always get me inside the music.
FYI, for context I also have the Shindo 604's, Vosne Romanee, Shindo Interconnects, A23 speaker cable, Brinkmann Oasis with Graham Phantom II Supreme and a Koetsu Blue Lace (stone body).
The Lafon's were the amps I did my original auditions with and the amp I coveted. So when a pair came up for sale, I jumped on them.
I won't belabor the point, but when they arrived they were not well packed and the tubes were bent & some were broken. I replaced all tubes and had a tech open the amps up and he had to re-solder a connection or two.
Once all of this was done and my speakers were adjusted, I got to listening. First thing I noticed was how enveloping the sound was. EXACTLY what I was looking for. Now, not all source material does this. But when the source material has that quality, the Lafon's are simply insane. I've had more than a few transcendental moments which I won't describe for fear that it would be used to put me in a mental ward one day.
That said, the issue I have is that the Lafon's seem to have one and only one sweet spot with regards to where the volume has to be on any given album. The music just doesn't sound all that great at low volumes and as soon as you go too loud, it starts to distort. You gotta get it just right or it seems off and usually "just right" means cranked pretty loud.
Now part of it may be that the Lafon's just sound so amazing when you have that enveloping source material and I'm subconsciously seeking that out on material that just won't ever get me there. But I can't help but wonder if this is just a weakness with this particular amp OR if maybe there's damage to the amp itself that is causing these subtle sonic annoyances.
The Lafon is still the most amp I've ever heard. But it lacks the consistent sweetness that my Cortese had, begs to be turned way up and is prone to some graininess if everything is not juuuuust right.
Any of you guys who have lived with this amp have similar or different experiences?