Line Magnetic 518ia vs 219ia

me and doug tried to listen to them but the guy was a lazy poop. so we didnt .lol.
id really love to check them out. 219 is a beast when you see it up close and pics dont do it justice
 
The 518 is basically my amp only tube rectified and a couple other features as well. Steve's right, the 219 is a monster of an amp. That would be the amp I would want except it's size is an issue. Maybe Bob at Rhapsody will chime in on some of the LM amps he's heard too.
Mike, check your inbox.



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Mike, very close to WE as that is their starting point & goal of achievement is to do better. I think they used to contract to WE & then went it alone.I have a dealer close that rates it as the top of LM that he sells & he has very good ears The 219 excels for the reason of huge power supply/headroom. All this is info relayed to me so caveat emptor of course. I am planning on auditioning the 219 once I have moved next month!
 
sharkmouth said:
Mike, very close to WE as that is their starting point & goal of achievement is to do better. I think they used to contract to WE & then went it alone.I have a dealer close that rates it as the top of LM that he sells & he has very good ears The 219 excels for the reason of huge power supply/headroom. All this is info relayed to me so caveat emptor of course. I am planning on auditioning the 219 once I have moved next month!
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Looking forward to your impressions Kev. I'm also curious about some of the LM 300b monos.
 
Id like to hear LM vs Melody in the same system. Richard Austin has done something similar at dagogo. Two different sounds it appears.
 
Mike said:
Looking forward to your impressions Kev. I'm also curious about some of the LM 300b monos.
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They have been noticed by me too.....

KeithR said:
Id like to hear LM vs Melody in the same system. Richard Austin has done something similar at dagogo. Two different sounds it appears.
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Would love to hear the same. Have now contacted Melody twice with no reply so no Melody for me!!
 
Thanks Allen. I read that yesterday before my post here. I figured one of the Sharks may have tried such a comparison. I found Richard's read very interesting.....especially his comments around hearing an SET for the first time. Talk about a sound which just sticks in your brain forever.

I came home and had to learn more about WHY SET's sound so different vs the standard PP tube amp. What I came to understand is that PP amps split the signal at the beginning and then rejoins it at the end. A SET doesn't do this. The signal comes in as one and leaves as one, never broken up in any manner.

One of the reasons I think we don't see a lot of SET's in NA, aside from a steady flow of ineffient/difficult to drive speakers, is because they don't measure well. But, who listens to a scope? We listen to music. And one listen to a good SET (yes, I imagine there are bad SET's - but I've never heard one) and you will know that perhaps that is a sound you very much want to seek out.

And, lastly, I know one of our "blue" members is turning "green" right now having lived with a PSET 300b the past few days.
 
Mike said:
Thanks Allen. I read that yesterday before my post here. I figured one of the Sharks may have tried such a comparison. I found Richard's read very interesting.....especially his comments around hearing an SET for the first time. Talk about a sound which just sticks in your brain forever.

I came home and had to learn more about WHY SET's sound so different vs the standard PP tube amp. What I came to understand is that PP amps split the signal at the beginning and then rejoins it at the end. A SET doesn't do this. The signal comes in as one and leaves as one, never broken up in any manner.

One of the reasons I think we don't see a lot of SET's in NA, aside from a steady flow of ineffient/difficult to drive speakers, is because they don't measure well. But, who listens to a scope? We listen to music. And one listen to a good SET (yes, I imagine there are bad SET's - but I've never heard one) and you will know that perhaps that is a sound you very much want to seek out.

And, lastly, I know one of our "blue" members is turning "green" right now having lived with a PSET 300b the past few days.
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amen to that!!! im hooked as well. heard loads of pp amps and owned alot in my life but im on my first SET , and soon my second. and im SET for life now. dont get me wrong down the road is like to add a 50w or so pp again and thats just because there are so many speakers that i cant drive right now. and great used deals everywhere.
but other than that 300b's are me. and instead of being all over the map with amps like in the past, i will slowly upgrade through several 300b amps until i get where i want to be.
which just might say western electric on the side or a6000 beasts.lol.
its not a choice for everyone but for me it is.
 
Steve - I've ordered a pair of Cary CAD 805AE's. 50 watt/ channel SET. Choice of 845 or 211 output tubes with 300b driver tube. I'll use my Replica series 845's and a pair of vintage NOS 1940 RCA 211's I managed to find.

Still not sure why Cary Audio doesn't get much notice these days. I mean, Dennis Had literally brought SET designs to these shores almost 40 years ago. That's ok....keeps the prices low for the rest of us. :)

You know Steve, I was thinking about the prototypical PP design we see a lot of these days. You know, KT88's with 6SN7's and it dawned on me why we see so many of these cookie cutter designs here in America. It was after reading an interview Stereophile did with Dennis. He basically said those designs are safe. Dennis loved to try some different designs and as a result, realized less than typical results.


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Mike said:
Steve - I've ordered a pair of Cary CAD 805AE's. 50 watt/ channel SET. Choice of 845 or 211 output tubes with 300b driver tube. I'll use my Replica series 845's and a pair of vintage NOS 1940 RCA 211's I managed to find.

Still not sure why Cary Audio doesn't get much notice these days. I mean, Dennis Had literally brought SET designs to these shores almost 40 years ago. That's ok....keeps the prices low for the rest of us. :)

You know Steve, I was thinking about the prototypical PP design we see a lot of these days. You know, KT88's with 6SN7's and it dawned on me why we see so many of these cookie cutter designs here in America. It was after reading an interview Stereophile did with Dennis. He basically said those designs are safe. Dennis loved to try some different designs and as a result, realized less than typical results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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yes i also read somewhere Cary started the SET here in the US with the very amps me and you have now. back in 93 or so. i like those Cary 805's and was reading about em not too long ago. i heard them awhile back but it was through awful pair of horns that i hated so i didnt give it a real good listen like i should have. i agree Cary gets no respect.
i had borrowed a cary slp98 pre and 120s amp a few years ago and for the price it was as good of a mixture of any amp , pre i had listened to before that. and was way less money than what i was trying out at the time. and for some reason i went a different direction, and until i got these Cary 300b's here recently i have not been as happy. these Cary i have are moving on because im chasing a dream.lol. but im thining on something else Cary in the near future.
 
Mike said:
Steve - I've ordered a pair of Cary CAD 805AE's. 50 watt/ channel SET. Choice of 845 or 211 output tubes with 300b driver tube. I'll use my Replica series 845's and a pair of vintage NOS 1940 RCA 211's I managed to find.

Still not sure why Cary Audio doesn't get much notice these days. I mean, Dennis Had literally brought SET designs to these shores almost 40 years ago. That's ok....keeps the prices low for the rest of us. :)

You know Steve, I was thinking about the prototypical PP design we see a lot of these days. You know, KT88's with 6SN7's and it dawned on me why we see so many of these cookie cutter designs here in America. It was after reading an interview Stereophile did with Dennis. He basically said those designs are safe. Dennis loved to try some different designs and as a result, realized less than typical results.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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So when did you sneak in that LM 219 Mike? Any preliminary thoughts? Have you had a chance to compare to the Cary's mentioned above...or are they not in yet?
 
bthomas9 said:
So when did you sneak in that LM 219 Mike? Any preliminary thoughts? Have you had a chance to compare to the Cary's mentioned above...or are they not in yet?
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I've had it for a few weeks. It betters the Cary's IMO.
 
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