Thanks much for the long review; very informative ans interesting.

One comment about the huge Dynamics when needed by classical music. I also own the same, almost vintage now, Monbrison preamp. The 6x4 tube for power regulation needs to be changed every 1000/1500hrs. It costs really nothing, maybe just 20$...
So I would encourage to find a good NOS tube from Matt and make the replacement (if not done already). A tube 'guru' here in France recommended me the 6BX4 (strictly equivalent) from Mazda / Mazda-Belvu ;)

Laurent,

Opposite to me, you always post to add something truly valuable !
Your contribution to AA is priceless. You need to become again a subscriber !

Sent from my iPhone using A.Aficionado

Hi all, I'd like to clear up a few points about my system under review, by my friend Stephen-

The Lingolab 'the Bench', in case an expert might be confused by the pic, is a custom, one-off- Basically, the usual, + custom doors to contrast the speakers-

The speakers are custom one-off Shindo Latours- They have Altec Valencia grills, 416-8A & 806-8A drivers- The cabinets, wiring and the crossover, are all made by Shindo- The crossover is made ready for field coil (w/ a power plug in the rear, in Shindo green) (same as the current Latour/Lafite), however is not at this time- The Altecs were procured by and approved by 'the Master'-

The Speaker cables as stated, are Auditorium 23 (A23 LS), however all interconnects are Shindo silver & the PCs are all Shindo upgrade models (black) (only made for a short time)-

As far as the dynamics, I'll leave the comments to personal thoughts, however if there are shortcomings, it's not because of 8 watts (the speakers are 100db efficient)- + The volume on the Monbrison is only at about 8:00, AKA, barely turned up- Sunday we will be messing w/ the set up a bit more, fwiw, + one of Stephen's TTs-

My Wavac will be arriving on Tue to compare, however we're concerned it might be too powerful w/ 55w !

DonBattles/Cellindo- The Monbrison was just on 'holiday' at 'home' in Japan, and received whatever groovy stuff the 'Dr' ordered, to bring it up to date, so all systems are a-ok, including the tubes- + I have tons of NOS tubes in case, including back up NOS WE 300Bs for the Lafons-

Also, FWIW, the not yet specifically mentioned Lafons (in the review), are the earlier models that originally came w/ and were voiced w/ WE 300Bs, not the Cetrons, that were used a little later-

Ok, that's it for now, the boys will be here in 11 hrs !

I'm sure there will be excellent follow ups coming-

David

Great looking system. I am sure you had a great time enjoying music that day.

Awesome system!! Wasn't this the one that was on auction at Audiogon and got pulled by the seller in the final days?

In any event, a beautiful set up. Having lived with Altecs for a while, I always wondered about the Shindo version. At one point - when I got my first Shindo in 2005 - modifying Altecs was a part of the normal lineup, not a "one off". In fact, if you look on the Shindo site, you'll find a gorgeous pair.

Hi...

this is a very nice system, I saw this before wthin the Audiogon user systems...the Lafon's in that specific version are very rare and are just gorgeous. A friend of mine has the same (with WE 300B) and they sound magical.

I have org. Altec Valencias with the same drivers and they will need only 5w to be on the safe side. I listened with Shindo Palmer 300B - 5-6W and they fully satisfied even with harder music (e.g. Einstürzende Neubauten, Joy Division...) :)

I listen actually with a 12-14 W Shindo PP amp, Pavillon Rouge, which sound somewhat more authoritative but I would think that this is rather something in regard of chararcter of the different amps than a matter of power alone. A good 300B like the Lafon will be more than sufficient in terms of power and control with any kind of music on these speakers, even with electronic music.

Best regards and much fun with that system.

Ron

Hi Cellindo,

do you notice a decrease of sound quality after the mentioned time or change out of suspicion? I just wonder since this seems to be quite a short time for a tube change at least for Shindo preamps. I use GEC 6x4 and the actual one lasts now for far more than 2000h in my Monbrison. I compared lately to a new 6x4 of the same kind and the used one did not sound dull or flat in comparison, as it can happen if a tube is near dead.

Also within my acquaintances who have shindo preamps it is rather usual that the rectifier lasts very very long...years.

Best regards

Ron

Some of the issues you raised about bass output might be addressed by speaker positioning in the room. Did you listen with vinyl as a source as well?

Wino... Welcome! :wave:

Agree on the positioning. That said, the idea that anyone would listen to a entire system composed of hand selected components through an app on a piece of consumer electronics is absurd. I mean, yeah, check and see if it's broken, but don't let it inform your listening. It's like going to an art museum and spending your time reading the Wikipedia for every piece.

If you're listening for effects, yes, Burmester might do you "better". Full disclosure, I tend to agree with Peter Q of ANUK...German hifi sounds evil. If you're listening to your Shindo that way, you are kind of missing the beauty of Shindo. I recommend that the new owner read Jules's review of that Monbrison in 6moons.