L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 55168 times.

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #60 on: 13 Mar 2019, 09:38 pm »
A few updates:

- Everyone who ordered the L2 Isolation Bases should have them by now (or by the end of this week).

- 6moons has recently updated their L2 Preamp preview, and is now 5-pages of information for those who want to learn more about the L2 Preamp design (beyond what is mentioned in this thread and on the website).  Srajan emailed me to confirmed that he received the L2 today and he will be digging into the actual review shortly. 

https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/vinnierossi/

- I am aiming to ship the L2 Preamp to Anthony Kershaw of Audiophilia next week, so hopefully he'll have it by the end of this month.

- I'll be in AXPONA Room 488 next month with the L2 Preamp & Monoblocks.  All cabling by Triode Wire Labs.  Loudspeakers for the show will be a surprise. Wink2

Vinnie

Triode Pete

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 1424
  • www.TriodeWireLabs.com
    • Triode Wire Labs - Affordable Audiophile Cables
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #61 on: 13 Mar 2019, 11:22 pm »
Hey Vinnie,
Awesome! I received my isolation bases this week & they go on the L2 preamp this weekend!

Speaking of AWESOME, that is EXACTLY what your L2 preamp is... AWESOME! Simply Amazing!

Looking forward to partnering with you once again at AXPONA and really looking forward to the surprise loudspeakers! Can't wait!

Cheers,
Pete

jriggy

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #62 on: 14 Mar 2019, 12:38 am »
...And you’re BOTH awesome for going above and beyond, helping through a rocky road of a demo this winter.

Jason

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #63 on: 14 Mar 2019, 05:15 pm »
...And you’re BOTH awesome for going above and beyond, helping through a rocky road of a demo this winter.
Jason

Our pleasure, jriggy!  This is why I love working with Pete - he is super-response and takes care of my customers.  And
his cables all deliver the goods!   

Quote from: Triode Pete
Speaking of AWESOME, that is EXACTLY what your L2 preamp is... AWESOME! Simply Amazing!

Glad you are enjoying your fully-loaded L2 Preamp, Pete!  With a name like Triode Pete / Triode Wire Labs, I had a feeling that you would!  :green:

See you at Axpona!

Vinnie

Triode Pete

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 1424
  • www.TriodeWireLabs.com
    • Triode Wire Labs - Affordable Audiophile Cables
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #64 on: 16 Mar 2019, 07:04 pm »
A few updates:

- Everyone who ordered the L2 Isolation Bases should have them by now (or by the end of this week).

- 6moons has recently updated their L2 Preamp preview, and is now 5-pages of information for those who want to learn more about the L2 Preamp design (beyond what is mentioned in this thread and on the website).  Srajan emailed me to confirmed that he received the L2 today and he will be digging into the actual review shortly. 

https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/vinnierossi/

- I am aiming to ship the L2 Preamp to Anthony Kershaw of Audiophilia next week, so hopefully he'll have it by the end of this month.

- I'll be in AXPONA Room 488 next month with the L2 Preamp & Monoblocks.  All cabling by Triode Wire Labs.  Loudspeakers for the show will be a surprise. Wink2

Vinnie

Wow, Vinnie! Head bottle washer & cook Srajan Ebaen from 6Moons gave you an 8-page pre-Review! That's cool!


maplegrovemusic

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 228
  • Please Be kind to your ears .... Treat your room
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #65 on: 16 Mar 2019, 07:25 pm »
HOW DO YOU ACCESS THE TRADING POST NOW ? Sorry caps lock was on . Am I blind ? can't see how to look at more than the dozen on the home page

Srajan Ebaen

  • Industry Participant
  • Posts: 260
Request for L2 DHT tube rolling experiences
« Reply #66 on: 17 Mar 2019, 05:01 pm »
Hiya.

Working up my review on Vinnie's L2 DHT linestage, I would like to invite those who already have theirs to share their experiences relative to tube brand and tube type rolling. I'm only listening to the stock ElectroHarmonix GOld 300B and Vinnie's personal pair of Takatsuki 300B. I'd like to provide our readers with additional data points since that's part of the appeal of this component.

So... if you'd like to become part of my review by contributing some sonic observations on what your various tubes do by comparison (also list the rest of your system), have at it. I'll check here or you can email me directly at 6moons. Your comments will list by either your handle or your real name, whatever you decide to provide.

Cheers. :popcorn:

Triode Pete

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 1424
  • www.TriodeWireLabs.com
    • Triode Wire Labs - Affordable Audiophile Cables
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #67 on: 31 Mar 2019, 03:02 pm »
Hey Vinnie,
I noticed that Srajan's review is complete and you earned 6Moon's "Lunar Eclipse Award"!!! Well deserved!!!

Here's the 11 page review!... https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/vinnierossi/

The L2 is a fantastic product and I'm just loving my fully-loaded version! Srajan's tube-rolling experiences is spot-on!... yes, my overall favorite is the Takasuki 300B's... but some vintage 2A3 triodes aren't too shabby in the L2... and I prefer them over some vintage 45's... more meat on the bones with the 2A3's!

Congratulations again,
Pete

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #68 on: 1 Apr 2019, 02:09 am »
Hi Pete,

Thank you for posting about this!

My sincere appreciation goes out to Srajan @ 6moons.com for all his time and effort in reviewing the L2 Signature Preamplifier.  It's an 11-page tour de force that covers all the facets of this unique design, and I just finished reading the wrap-up and I am deeply honored to see the L2 received the very rare Lunar Eclipse Award!  :notworthy:



For those interested in reading about the L2 design approach, how it teams up with various amplifiers and speakers, and how it left its impression on the man who has literally reviewed  several hundreds of components since 2002, at all starts here:
https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/vinnierossi/

Here are just a few highlights from the review that I am still processing - very powerful stuff!  :weights:

Quote from: Srajan Ebaen / 6moons.com
We'll skip variation #4 as well because it too would have meant kicking a man whilst down. The 12AU7 in Nagra's Classic just couldn't compete against the [L2 equipped with] Takatsuki 300B...

This underscored at least in my private appointment calender how today's L2 truly was a class apart to justify its tariff in full. There was no sense comparing it to other preamps... Hifi reviews aren't blood sports...

Vinnie's L2 now allowed one to clone advanced SET attributes from properly spec'd transistor amps. De facto it meant, 1/ hitching that type sound to SET-unfriendly 'normal' speakers and 2/, doing so with no impact on musical choices.

A solution as elegantly simple as Vinnie Rossi's L2 preamp we might have expected from one of the big established tube houses like Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, VTL... yet none of them—not one!—managed. The global market has nothing at all like it. L2 is the first and only one of its kind...

L2 stands alone. It also does in offering that very practical alternate tube-less path of Jfet buffer for when your glass may be down awaiting replacement, or for when you need a bypass. It does so with its 2.5V, 4V and 5V toggles which take tube specimens from all three voltage families. It does so with its optional DAC and phono boards, with its special-order headphone amp module. To anyone who's been in hifi long enough to know that invariably, you can find something very similar behind a different face plate, the Vinnie Rossi L2 is a major stumper. With it, there just isn't, period...

With the Vinnie Rossi L2 line stage, that well-trodden claim—of direct-heated triodes being the most linear low-distortion audio gain devices ever made—has finally grown legs to stand on and not just walk but sprint like a racer... As now truly themselves without the traditional crutches or interpreters, they finally step into the bright light of day with genuine purity and speed. And that equals bandwidth, noise and resolution figures which are on par with the best of transistors. The resultant sonics are very special!

Also - if you are interested what is coming next (late summer 2019), don't forget to read page 10.  :wink:

With much gratitude,

Vinnie

jtwrace

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 11415
  • www.theintellectualpeoplepodcast.com
    • TIPP YouTube Channel
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #69 on: 1 Apr 2019, 02:31 am »

Also - if you are interested what is coming next (late summer 2019), don't forget to read page 10.  ;)

Vinnie
There might be some mad people over that.   :lol:

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #70 on: 1 Apr 2019, 02:39 am »
There might be some mad people over that.   :lol:

Mad in love!  :green:

magnuska

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 58
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #71 on: 1 Apr 2019, 07:49 am »
Hi Vinnie,

An L2 integrated - a perfect product in my opinion and a natural evolvment from the separates. Many people including myself finds
the superintegrated amp ( with DAC or phonostage) to be the ultimate. I am still enjoying my LIO with AVC/tubestage but I guess this
new L2 will be quite a bit superior. Hopefully pricing will be competitive as well.

A more powerful LIO was for obvious reasons not possible but the L2 platform makes it possible.

Congrats Vinnie and hopefully you can explain more  about them in detail soon.

Regards Magnus

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #72 on: 1 Apr 2019, 04:44 pm »
Hi Vinnie,

An L2 integrated - a perfect product in my opinion and a natural evolvment from the separates. Many people including myself finds
the superintegrated amp ( with DAC or phonostage) to be the ultimate. I am still enjoying my LIO with AVC/tubestage but I guess this
new L2 will be quite a bit superior. Hopefully pricing will be competitive as well.

A more powerful LIO was for obvious reasons not possible but the L2 platform makes it possible.

Congrats Vinnie and hopefully you can explain more  about them in detail soon.

Regards Magnus

Hi Magnus,

Thank you for your post!

I will be posting more about the L2i (L2 Integrated) and L2i-SE (L2 Integrated Signature Edition) in a new thread.  L2i pricing will most definitely be higher than LIO (but its performance will be substantially higher).  I will also be working out a LIO trade-in program for LIO customers who might be interested in upgrading.

I still need time to figure out final pricing.  Before I can do all of that, I need to get ready for the AXPONA show that starts next week.  :hyper:

Vinnie

WillyL

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 5
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #73 on: 1 Jun 2019, 08:42 am »
Vinnie,

Looking forward to the next update on the L2i !  8)  ....and also the details of the LIO trade in!

Going to be one of the first in line for the L2i . Will the dimensions of the integrated be same as LIO--or fit into the same box?

(Meanwhile my LIO is sounding better than ever with my new Triode Wire cables. I really need to write up a review but not sure what circle to put it in.)

Cheers!

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #74 on: 3 Jun 2019, 04:38 pm »
Vinnie,

Looking forward to the next update on the L2i !  8)  ....and also the details of the LIO trade in!

Going to be one of the first in line for the L2i . Will the dimensions of the integrated be same as LIO--or fit into the same box?


Hi WillyL,

I should have all the details of the L2i and L2i-SE in about a month, and will start a new thread about it.

The dimensions (and appearance) will be similar to the L2 Preamplifier, but it will be around 2 inches wider (1 inch of
added heatsinking on both side panels).  And it will be at least 10 lbs heavier.

In the meantime, feel free to email me and I'll provide all the info that I can at the moment.  But I don't wish to post them online
quite yet until more things are finalized.

I am still on target to be in production this September!  :hyper:

Quote
(Meanwhile my LIO is sounding better than ever with my new Triode Wire cables. I really need to write up a review but not sure what circle to put it in.)

Awesome - and I'm sure Triode Pete would love to hear from you on his forum:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?board=200

Best regards,

Vinnie

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #75 on: 7 Jun 2019, 03:46 pm »

Anthony Kershaw's (Audiophilia.com) Part 1 review of the L2 Signature Preamplifier is live! :dance:

http://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2019/3/29/vinnie-rossi-l2-signature-preamplifier

[Parts 2 and 3 are to follow and will focus on the L2 DAC and L2 Phonostage options]

Quote from: Anthony Kershaw / Audiophilia.com

..As Rossi suggests, the preamplifier is dead silent. No tube rush, nothing. A black background for the musicians to paint their sounds. During the break in, I had become enamoured with its sound during my standard sneak peeks. Warm, rich and refined, yet with incredible detail. All instruments shone with the most beautiful halo of vibrant sound. Vocals, too. Deep, rich, throaty. But with a harmonic ‘completeness’ to their presentation. Almost tactile. And definitely goosebump time. I could imagine the artists smiling and nodding with pride if they heard this type of playback.

..The L2 enhanced my very fine digital setup, and considering the preamplifier section of the Continuum S2 (basically, a Jeff Rowland Capri II preamplifier) is outstanding and an obvious match for its connected amplifier section, it couldn’t better the gorgeous sounds the 300Bs were portraying. For sure, a completely different topology, but the way Rossi has his tubes singing is very persuasive.

..Adding this fantastic bit of kit will elevate your musical experience into regions you have yet imagined.

..It could live in my system happily. Forever. Very highly recommended.




Thank you, Anthony! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:


Vinnie

Triode Pete

  • Industry Contributor
  • Posts: 1424
  • www.TriodeWireLabs.com
    • Triode Wire Labs - Affordable Audiophile Cables
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #76 on: 7 Jun 2019, 07:09 pm »
Anthony Kershaw's (Audiophilia.com) Part 1 review of the L2 Signature Preamplifier is live! :dance:

http://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2019/3/29/vinnie-rossi-l2-signature-preamplifier

[Parts 2 and 3 are to follow and will focus on the L2 DAC and L2 Phonostage options]




Thank you, Anthony! :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:


Vinnie

Congrats, Vinnie! I totally concur with Anthony's assessment! My L2 preamp is incredibly dead silent on my 104 dB sensitive Volti horns!

Cheers,
Pete

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #77 on: 8 Jun 2019, 06:08 pm »
Hi Pete,

Thank you! 

It was definitely not easy to make the L2 Signature Preamp (using directly heated triodes in the linestage) so dead silent, but it was well-worth the quest.  With the mesh tube covers, there is ZERO hum! 

I explained in more detail how I was able to make it happen on Page 3 of the 6moons review that came out last April:
https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/vinnierossi/3/

Quote from: Vinnie Rossi
You'll also see an impeccable dual-mono layout of the 4-layer motherboard as well as two large black metal covers for shielding sensitive parts of the DHT and Jfet stages as well as the balanced i/o stages. Going with a 4-layer PCB meticulously routed by a true layout guru whom I commissioned for this was absolutely critical in getting the noise floor this low. It allows us to route sensitive traces between ground planes and allowed for different ground planes inside the layers.

For example, the power feed for all control circuitry—relays used for input select, volume control, DHT filament voltage selection as well as the front panel display, push buttons, IR etc.—is sourced from a dedicated 5V linear regulated feed and its own isolated ground called DGND. There are multiple isolated grounds within the 4-layer PCB: analog ground left/right, digital ground for the control circuits, DHT ground for the left/right filament power feeds and AC ground aka chassis ground which ties to the safety ground of the AC cable and mains outlet.

How I taught myself to 'reference' these various grounds against each other so to speak—except for digital ground which has nothing to do with any of the analog circuitry—was another essential piece of the puzzle in getting such remarkably low hum and noise. I didn't figure it out overnight. It happened gradually over the course of experimenting for many months well after LIO DHT PRE had gone into production. This really was the hardest part of the whole L2 Preamplifier design. Many nights damn near led me to insanity!

Another thing I learnt is that a floating filament supply like a battery or isolated ultracap bank is not the best solution against hum pickup. While the power itself is very clean, things are a lot more complicated in terms of picking up radiated noise fields with the filament-driven triodes. Certain tubes I gave up on with LIO like the Psvane WE205-D Western Electric replica due to excessive hum are quiet in the L2 preamp.


And coming later this month are SILVER L2 Preamp & Monoblock enclosures (These pics below are low res, but I'll have high res pics on my website soon enough):











 :drool:  :inlove:

Vinnie

Tyson

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 11087
  • Audio - It's all a big fake.
Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #78 on: 9 Jun 2019, 02:42 am »
Damn that's sexy!

Vinnie R.

Re: L2 Signature Preamplifer - Information and Discussion Thread
« Reply #79 on: 18 Jun 2019, 05:56 pm »
Damn that's sexy!

Thank you, Tyson! 

---

Anthony Kershaw's (Audiophilia.com) Part 2 (of 3) review of the L2 Signature Preamplifier is live - this time he
reviews the L2 Phonostage option:

http://www.audiophilia.com/reviews/2019/6/4/vinnie-rossi-l2-signature-preamplifier-part-2the-phonostage-module

Quote from: Anthony Kershaw / Audiophilia
...performance among the very best phonostages at this price (or higher), serious triode love, and that remote with loading from your listening chair.

You want the full Rossi experience? An excellent phono stage? A no brainer, then.

Anthony's Part 3/3 review (the L2 Dac Module) is coming early next month!  :hyper:


[BTW - the L2 Phonostage is compatible with LIO, but it requires that you send in your LIO for a firmware upgrade for the new, remote cartridge MC loading settings that are used with the L2 Phonostage to display properly on the LIO front panel.]

Vinnie