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Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

So far, it's pretty awesome :)




I'd say i'm pulling up on the 150-200 hour stage at this point.

It's really starting to open up and relax even more. There are a lot of small Lundahl trafos on it, accompanying wire and two huge Cardas parafeed caps. Some folks who own his stages say it takes at least 300 hours to really be close to being run in well. I've enjoyed it from the get go.

I guess i'm loathe to say it's "neutral", but to me, it sure seems like it is. It's MUCH more dynamic and extended than anything i've had here before. The onboard Lundahl 1931's sound a lot better than when I use my outboard Cinemag SUT with it (yes, even with my SS 103r).

The main thing, and what really was the goal, is that I find it immenently tuneable with the gain tubes I put in it. The stock 70's Russian tubes Kevin spec'ed with it, in my system, are quite nice, though a tad dry in the middle. But it's all so system dependent.

Bear in mind, that i've also just swapped in some new outlets (cryoed, burned in Hubbell 2534s) and popped in a lot of new cords and interconnects from my amp to my preamp. But most of the new wire is pre-owned.

I'm running some nice Philips Miniwatt SQ ECC88s in it now and really likeing it. Same basic dynamics as the stock tubes, with maybe a little more bloom in the bass.. but now the midrange is really sweet, slightly more forward (which was the main goal, as the Ensemble ICs I just popped in solidified everything, but put things a little further back) and there is also some more shimmer on top with the Dutch tubes. I've also tried some Siemens, a coupld Mullard itinerations and a couple others I have around. I'm gererally "an Amperex guy" in terms of front end pre tubes, so I feel great about where the whole rig is at the moment.

I wish I could afford a few more cartidges to try and really utilize the flexibility of it. Not only is there a large range of loading options for LOMC carts, but also for MMs. It's really fabulous if you have multiple arms, headshells/carts ready to swap in and play with.

Here's a pic of what it looks like. Though mine doesn't have the logo of any graphic right in the middle of the faceplate. I just wanted to keep it simple, black and non-descript. The wife preferred it that way too.. and it's in the livingroom. I also have a red wood, swirled, exotic looking knob to match my Alana preamps two attenuator knobs on the front. I'll soon post pics of my unit.

Kevin not only has done an awesome job of updating and improving this puppy, but i'm digging the way it looks too. This will, in all likelihood, be my one real good stage for the long haul.

Last thing: This bears repeating and seems to be mentioned every time someone describes their experience with K&K. Kevin is simply, one of the nicest, straightest shooters I have ever run into in the hobby. Just a great guy to deal with. It makes me feel good knowing that I have someone like this, standing behind an important piece of gear like this, for a vinyl-o-centric system like mine.

The guy is just a total mensch.

Regards, Marc



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  • So far, it's pretty awesome :) - marc-homeslice 08:08:40 03/21/12 (0)

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