LDRxB.V25 Balanced Passive Preamps

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tortugaranger

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #60 on: 13 Sep 2014, 08:36 pm »
Morten,

Did my unit ship yet?

Thanks,
Andy

Ships Monday. Finally! You'll be getting a UPS tracking notice soon.

bonsai

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #61 on: 13 Sep 2014, 08:54 pm »
Nice!

Randy

Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #62 on: 13 Sep 2014, 11:08 pm »
Morten,

Did my unit ship yet?

Thanks,
Andy



« Last Edit: 14 Sep 2014, 08:09 pm by Randy »

bonsai

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #63 on: 16 Sep 2014, 05:04 pm »
Morten,

Can you confirm if this unit has been handed over to UPS?

When tracking it just shows "A UPS shipping label has been created".  I called UPS and they said they do not have this yet and that the shipping label has only been printed and nothing else.

Thanks,
Andy

Ships Monday. Finally! You'll be getting a UPS tracking notice soon.

tortugaranger

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #64 on: 17 Sep 2014, 01:33 pm »
Morten,

Can you confirm if this unit has been handed over to UPS?

When tracking it just shows "A UPS shipping label has been created".  I called UPS and they said they do not have this yet and that the shipping label has only been printed and nothing else.

Thanks,
Andy

Andy, your unit was delivered to UPS this morning.

Randy, we're digging out from under backlog as fast as we can working 7 days a week and have brought on more help. As soon as your unit is close to shipping I'll let you know. At the current rate we expect to be all caught up by the end of September.

Best,
Morten

bonsai

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #65 on: 17 Sep 2014, 02:15 pm »
Morten,

We spoke on the phone yesterday.  You described the amount of testing and effort put into testing.  It was pretty cool to hear what you put into testing before shipping out to the customer. 

You mentioned the last min. tweak to get this 100% done and ready to ship.  I appreciate the effort and attention to details.

Thanks,
Andy

Randy

Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #66 on: 17 Sep 2014, 05:02 pm »
Andy, your unit was delivered to UPS this morning.

Randy, we're digging out from under backlog as fast as we can working 7 days a week and have brought on more help. As soon as your unit is close to shipping I'll let you know. At the current rate we expect to be all caught up by the end of September.

Best,
Morten

Morten,
  That's okay since I am leaving town for a week or so next week.  Maybe Oct. 1?

Randy



ssglx

Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #67 on: 17 Sep 2014, 06:20 pm »
Keep the quality high. I would rather wait a bit than receive an inferior unit that was rushed!

tortugaranger

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Listening to the LDRx
« Reply #68 on: 19 Sep 2014, 12:40 pm »
If you haven't lived it, it's hard to convey the madness of the first few weeks after releasing a new audio product to in-house manufacture. No matter what's gone before, you're cutting a fresh new unfamiliar trail that one day will be well worn and easy but for the moment each new step is just plain hard work. You sweat all the details and despite all the planning there's always something overlooked that has to figured out and resolved. You have to. And you do. And it does.

In the midst of this crunch time, stopping to smell the roses is a distant notion. But last night after yet another unit had been built, boxed and shipped, I sat down with a glass of wine and took the time to really listen to the next LDRx preamp sitting on the test bench waiting for final checkout. This one had the optional Neotech silver hookup wire in the audio path.

Keep in mind that I listen to every preamp we produce before it ships so I'm quite familiar with how they generally sound. But it quickly became apparent after a few minutes of critical listening to this new LDRx that we'd truly managed to raise the bar with this model. Imaging, sound stage, clarity, detail and bass never sounded so good. The whole had indeed become greater than the sum of its parts. As an audio designer and music lover, that's a moment to savor.

This morning it's back to digging out from under our backlog of orders. But I take great comfort in knowing that our customers are getting a great product. For those of you still waiting for your unit to ship, I beg your continued patience. Over the next 2 weeks we expect to be totally caught up.

Enjoy!
Morten

tortugaranger

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #69 on: 30 Sep 2014, 12:51 pm »
Here's a reference to another thread where the subject of impedance bridging and suitability of using passive preamps with amps having lower impedances (10k) is discussed.
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=129078.msg1363872#msg1363872

tortugaranger

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A few more pics of an LDRxB
« Reply #70 on: 2 Oct 2014, 01:03 pm »
A few more pics of an LDRxB. Includes closeup of the left/right hand side of rear panel of standard LDRxB (balanced) with Neutrik XLR jacks. The last shot shows the typical internal layout of the LDRxB with dual controller boards mated to vertical I/O switching boards. Things get quite busy here. Note unbalanced/balanced conversion transformer towards the rear that converts the RCA input labeled In3b but actually operates as a separate 4th input.



poseidonsvoice

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #71 on: 2 Oct 2014, 01:16 pm »
Gorgeous!

Best,
Anand.

kernelbob

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Re: LDR3x.V1/V2 boards, impedance & certain dacs
« Reply #72 on: 3 Oct 2014, 12:26 am »
I just received the Tortuga LDRxB preamp this afternoon.  I'm currently using the PS-Audio PWD-MkII and it pairs very well with the LDRxB.  I have to say, this is the best sounding preamp I've had in my system.  The improvements are easily recognizable.  I'll be posting more details, but from what I've heard so far, this thing is a giant killer.

tortugaranger

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Re: LDR3x.V1/V2 boards, impedance & certain dacs
« Reply #73 on: 3 Oct 2014, 12:32 pm »
.... from what I've heard so far, this thing is a giant killer.

 :weights: :banana piano: :bounce: :rock: :dance: :beer: (need a "giant killer" emoticon)

tortugaranger

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #74 on: 25 Feb 2016, 01:52 pm »
Received the note below last night from an LDRx customer.  :thumb:
Quote
I have been a hi fi enthusiast since I bought my first stereo in 1980.  Over the decades, I  have tried numerous active preamps:  solid state and tube (was never able to live with solid state, so usually ran tubed units), as well as passive units: potentiometer/resistor based units sound thin (even with impedance matching), and I had much better luck with TVCs.  But, I bought  your LDRx (with the silver wire, when that option was offered) and it is hands down the best preamp I’ve used:  all the comments made by others are spot on.  Open, easy, organic, transparent etc., and - above all else - natural.  It makes other preamps (esp. active ones) sound electronic and mechanical.  Thanks Morten, brilliant work.

sincerely, E.R.C., Madison WI

craig sawyers

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #75 on: 27 Feb 2016, 07:25 am »
I couldn't have said it better.  I'm rediscovering my entire music collection, and have been reduced to tears by things I thought I knew.  Precisely why it is so darned good I have no idea (I'm an electronics engineer by background), and frankly I couldn't care less - it is an audio tour-de-force.

kernelbob

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #76 on: 27 Feb 2016, 09:41 pm »
I've had my Tortuga preamp now for a couple of years in one form or another.  My experience is similar to the posts of other satisfied users.  The Tortuga gets out of the way of the music better than any preamp I've owned or heard. Dynamics are now not limited.  Channel separation is easily better than any active unit I've heard.  Bass goes extremely deep, giving lots of work for my 8 Hz subs to do.  Speaking of bass, I still can't make sense of how this passive unit provides all the bass power and slam of the best active units.  The nuances of instrumental character are always there no matter how complex the music gets.  Stage width (thanks to the great channel separation) and depth are as good as anything out there that I've heard.  Best of all, the longer you own one, the more you appreciate how non-fatiguing the Tortuga is.

P.S.  Morten, I vote to keep the simple remote.  It does everything it needs to do (along with that new feature you're implementing for my LDRxB).

Regards,
Robert
« Last Edit: 27 Feb 2016, 11:26 pm by kernelbob »

Pale Rider

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #77 on: 30 Mar 2016, 10:43 pm »
P.S.  Morten, I vote to keep the simple remote.  It does everything it needs to do (along with that new feature you're implementing for my LDRxB).

Regards,
Robert
Okay, I'll bite. Since I am about to order my second one, what "new feature"?

tortugaranger

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #78 on: 31 Mar 2016, 02:19 pm »
Okay, I'll bite. Since I am about to order my second one, what "new feature"?

This is something kernelbob and I have been discussing for quite a while now and in fact I owe him this feature in a unit of his I've been holding on to for way too long now.

It's really an R&D feature that has yet to be fully implemented and vetted but the feature, simply put, is phase reversal. By pushing a button on the remote, the phase of the audio signals in the LDRxB can be reversed. There is a school of thought that this can make a discernible difference in sound quality by matching the same phasing laid down in the recording/mastering process. Since it's essentially impossible to know what was done, the simplest way to test this is to check it out while listening. To do this requires terminating  and assigning a given input to 2 input channels wherein each is wired the opposite of the other. The wiring gets a bit messy. It requires some custom software. Once this gets implemented and kernelbob has had some time with this feature I'll have more information and decide if/when this might become a standard feature of the LDRxB.

To be clear, this feature is more than just a firmware update as it also requires additional hardware/wiring but it could be retrofitted into existing units.

Pale Rider

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Re: LDRx Unbalanced & LDRxB Balanced Passive Preamps
« Reply #79 on: 31 Mar 2016, 02:35 pm »
Thanks Morten. Interesting, and yes, such a feature could be quite useful. Do you have a rough ETA on its availability, if ever? I understand it requires some complicated work, and I do wonder if enough customers might want such a feature to make it worth rolling out. Anyway, thanks.