The story of Philip O’Hanlon and the Graham Audio LS8/1 loudspeaker goes again a few years, when my audio mentor Gene Rubin despatched me a message to assessment it ASAP. After all these years, […]
Tag Archives: Gene Rubin
Of all the audio gear I came close to buying over the last forty years, I probably got closer to a pair of LS3/5as than anything else. I’m reminded of that constantly in the presence […]
The LFD NCSE Mk. 3 integrated amplifier (website) has no remote control. Nor does it have XLR inputs or outputs, a home theater bypass switch, 12V trigger operation, a built-in DAC, a wide range of connectivity options nor any of the standard features we usually find in a modern integrated that costs $7,350. I’ve reviewed plenty of integrated amplifiers that cost far less than that, and they have features such as inboard phono stages and headphone amplifiers and more. Heck, the LFD NCSE doesn’t even have a grounding lug on the back panel for the phono stage. In nearly every way, the LFD is a classic Brit-Fi integrated from twenty or thirty years ago: 70 watts per channel, about the size and weight of your average one-chassis preamp, a simple black box. (Or in this case, dark gray.) Three knobs on front—volume, selector, tape monitoring. A simple toggle switch serves as the power button and there’s only one very small LED on the faceplate that tells you the NCSE is on. I was raised on simple British integrated amplifiers like this–the British Fidelity A1 and Synthesis, Naim NAIT 2, Rega Brio3 and, most notably, the LFD Mistral. The Mistral was […]
After spending the first 24 hours with the new Sonus faber Lumina III loudspeakers, here’s what I came up with. First, imagine you’re not an audiophile. You’re just a consumer looking for a nice pair of speakers for your probably mid-fi system, although your friends and family think it’s already pretty fancy and that you’re “really into your music.” You think to yourself that a nice pair of towers would probably suffice, slim and petite enough to blend into your surroundings and pretty enough to show everyone you have a bit of class. How about a pair of three-way towers? Made in Italy, so they’re much more attractive than a mere veneered box? Yeah? These Sonus faber Lumina IIIs are exactly what you need. They’re $2199/pair, and maybe that’s a little more than you wanted to spend but hey, made in Italy! That costs extra, and look how beautiful they are. To the average music loving non-audiophile, a slim, petite three-way tower speaker is a pretty ordinary thing, and the sales floor of most audio dealers have members of this very common species strategically placed all through the sales floors of their stores. I see ‘em all the time, lurking […]