Line Magnetic LM-845 Premium

[FreddieFerric]

Does Line Magnetic have a USA website? Or a dealer network here in the states? I.E., where can you buy of them?

[Formerly YB-2]

Stereophile just gave the LM845 one of their "product of the year" awards. Would guess that it would work well with any of Tannoy's traditional speakers.

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

Stereophile just gave the LM845 one of their "product of the year" awards. Would guess that it would work well with any of Tannoy's traditional speakers.

I saw that Glenn, but it doesn't say what issue it was reviewed.

Edit: Found it. July '21

[audio bill]

Originally Posted by FreddieFerric

Does Line Magnetic have a USA website? Or a dealer network here in the states? I.E., where can you buy of them?

Line Magnetic is distributed in the US by Tone Imports who should be able to direct you to your nearest dealer.

[joel_hifi]

I received a LM 845 Premium about 6 months ago. It’s one of the finest amps I’ve owned, very musical, yet very detailed, excellent stage.

I swapped the stock tubes with a pair of ACME 845, a pair of Elrog 300B (even better than the ACME 300B which I also tried), and a pair of Psvane WE A310. I did not change the premium Linlai 12AX7 small tubes in the pre section yet as they sound good enough, but I’ll keep an eye for a pair of Telefunken or Mullard.

Amongst the speakers I own the 845P can easily drive the Sonus Faber Elipsa (91 dB/4 ohms), excellent match with the Audio Note AN/E SPe HE (reported 97.5 dB/6 ohms) especially for classical music, but more surprisingly also a pretty decent match with both the ProAc SM100 (88 dB/8 ohms), and even the Harbeth 30s series (85 db/6 ohms) although I prefer solid state power amplification for those. Absolute no go with planars such as the Magnepan 1.7i

I would assume that the Tannoys would be a very decent match.

[FreddieFerric]

I've been reading several of the reviews on this amp throughout the day paying particular attention to speaker paring. I'm big on system synergy. It's just that I'm having my doubts about how well it would drive my big Reference 1 Cantons at 89.5 db operating mostly at 4 ohms. I'm not prepared to replace them because they're just too good.

The eye candy factor of this amp is just off the charts. I'm sure with a 98 db speaker it would really sing.

[Formerly YB-2]

You may be correct. I'm at the other end of the Canton spectrum with my Ref 9Ks and keep thinking Ref 7K. But, am wary of my 20wpc of Class A tube power, which may not be sufficient for the larger speaker. I was sorry that JA's recent review of the 7Ks only used his 450wpc amps, so did not gain much info from same. It took me almost a year of swapping amps before finding the sound I was looking for and I would hate to go thru that again. It is definitely a synergy thing and those tubes may not be able to push those large drivers sufficiently in the Ref 1Ks.

However, you could bi-amp your Ref 1Ks with the tubes on top. Am sure the 30wpc would provide plenty of power in that configuration.

[joel_hifi]

Originally Posted by FreddieFerric

I've been reading several of the reviews on this amp throughout the day paying particular attention to speaker paring. I'm big on system synergy. It's just that I'm having my doubts about how well it would drive my big Reference 1 Cantons at 89.5 db operating mostly at 4 ohms. I'm not prepared to replace them because they're just too good.

The eye candy factor of this amp is just off the charts. I'm sure with a 98 db speaker it would really sing.

I'm gonna state the obvious but ideally you'd want to borrow/try the LM-845P at home in your system, that's the only way you'll find out whether it's a suitable match to your Ref 1s.

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

You may be correct. I'm at the other end of the Canton spectrum with my Ref 9Ks and keep thinking Ref 7K. But, am wary of my 20wpc of Class A tube power, which may not be sufficient for the larger speaker. I was sorry that JA's recent review of the 7Ks only used his 450wpc amps, so did not gain much info from same. It took me almost a year of swapping amps before finding the sound I was looking for and I would hate to go thru that again. It is definitely a synergy thing and those tubes may not be able to push those large drivers sufficiently in the Ref 1Ks.

However, you could bi-amp your Ref 1Ks with the tubes on top. Am sure the 30wpc would provide plenty of power in that configuration.

Interesting concept almost like a cheaper version of the MC 901's.

For the record, my Ref 1's are the older version and not the K's.

Originally Posted by joel_hifi

I'm gonna state the obvious but ideally you'd want to borrow/try the LM-845P at home in your system, that's the only way you'll find out whether it's a suitable match to your Ref 1s.

If I could find a dealer that would let me audition the amp in my home first that would be ideal. Just not going to hold my breath on that since I'm pretty sure there are no LM dealers anywhere around my area.

[audibleguy]

I know of a dealer I have worked with in the past that is a Line Magnetic dealer, he is Goldprint Audio in North Carolina, Taylor is the owner and chief bottle washer.