Line Magnetic LM-845 Premium
 

Anyone who has auditioned or owns the LM-845 Premium version? Would you please comment on the sound quality? And provide some comparisons to either other LM models or other integrated tube amps? I currently own the LM-805 and am interested in this top of the line LM amp.
Thank you in advance....

I purchased the LM-845 Premium and have been listening to it for a few days. It’s very impressive! Very natural, airy, great depth and soundstage. Amazing detail and very transparent. It’s called Premium for good reason.

Congrats... I owned the model it replaced, the 219ia, very special piece.

Curious how the 845 Premium compares to the 805?

LM-805 has more power and beefier low end. But 845P is tighter. Overall 845P has better tonal balance. It is more transparent and more natural sounding, a bit more relaxed.

Thanks! I tend to prefer systems that have a solid bass/mid-bass foundation. However, over the last 5 yrs or so I’ve found I increasingly value transparency. Sounds like the Premium might be just the ticket!

I’ve had the LM-845P for about 2 weeks now and am really smitten with it. This amp is very impressive, very special. The sound is so natural and realistic. Instruments sound so real and alive and district. It’s easy to hear and follow the melody each instrument makes. There is so much air and depth in the sound. The amp is so articulate. So much detail. Very engaging...

I own an LM518 IA and I am blown away with the music it does on my old and excellent BW802N, currently with Tony Joe White vinyl album : Collected, 3rd side.

Did you listen to this model, which has 845 tubes, class A etc?

Anyway enjoy your amp, great choice!

Thank you. No I have not listened to the LM-518IA before but I am not surprised to hear that it drives your B&W802 well. Mine has 30w per channel and is plenty powerful.

Do someone have heard the difference between a LM-210ia and the 845prem (or 219ia)?
Both use 310 and 300B tubes, but the endtube is different. Would be helpful, a friend with a nice set of Musical Affairs PHY-HP speakers is orientating for one of the two (210 or 219).
PHY-HP is broadband, 12 inch, 97db 1w/1m, and very musical.

Line Magnetic Amps: Again?
 

I thought I'd see if I could "wake up" this thread. I'm new to tubes and new to Line Magnetic. I know only one other owner of the LM 34ia, which is basically their entry level integrated amp. My experience with it has been outstanding. I demoed the Rogue Cronus Magnum II and the Primaluna Evo 300, and with my Tekton speakers, the LM was the clear winner. Perhaps I'll consider stepping up to one of the juicier models in the future, like the 805 or 845.

Before 'stepping up' to an 845 or 805 tube you might want to do some research on the tubes. Limited choices and fairly expensive. A good KT88 based integrated amp makes 75wpc in UL or 40wpc in triode.

The amp I have now, model 34ia, already has the capability to accept KT88 tubes, as well as EL34/KT77's. It comes with the EL34's, but has an EL34/KT88 toggle switch. In addition, it has individual manual bias adjustment for each tube. I was thinking my next step up could be the Genelex Gold Lion Kt77's. I have heard these have some of the extra punch of the 88's, but retain a lot of the mid-range presence of the EL34's, kind of a compromise. What has been your experience with KT88's, vs. other tubes, and in what equipment have you used them?

Of that genre of new tubes my favorite is the Tung-Sol 7581a followed closely by the GL KT77. They are, like the EL34, an excellent tube for the mid-range if you are into voices, classic jazz, chamber music and the like. The GL KT88 is the best tube in my current amp, which is rated at 20wpc in triode (where I also run the EL34 genre tubes at a lower bias setting - likely makes around 15wpc with them). I find the KT88 to offer a bit more "authority" in lower-mid and down and only just a bit less tone with voices. I also found it to be the best tube in a couple of McIntosh amps I used (MC75 monoblocks & MC275IV). The GL small signal tubes are also very nice sounding (12AX7, 12AU7, etc.) though there are many others at reasonable prices, including NOS.

Before I forget, there are some nice tubes listed at very fair prices in the classifieds here. I've purchased several and they are just as Joe describes.

Good tips. Thanks for the feedback. I'll check out the classifieds at some point. Right now, I am auditioning upgrades to the pre-amp tubes. I have a couple of Brimar NOS black-plate 12AU7's (1953) from Brent Jessee. Still waiting for them to break in. Initially they are warmer and very musical over the OEM tubes, but a little dark or even murky at times, in terms of detail loss. I am told that should disappear after 60 hours or so. They actually do sound better today than they did yesterday, so we'll see.

I got a LM845 Premium this week and it is an exceptional amp even with the stock tubes. For comparison I do also own a ref6/ref75se combo, luxman c900u/m900u combo, and some ANK gear. The premium is about at the same level with a suitable speaker and it is not close to broken in. It is very detailed, nuanced, musical, yet still the most relaxed sounding amp I have heard.
I have owned the 518 and 508 and they are very good for the money, especially the 518, but not even close to this. If you can find a 518 with quiet transformers ( I understand the later production is quiet) used in the $3500 range that is still the vfm winner, great value. But in terms of “ultimate” amp, this thing at $7500 is an incredible bargain.

I own an 845 Premium. While I am enjoying listening to the amp, it's my first experience of 845 and 300B tubes. Could those more experienced chime in on how long break-in is for these tubes? To my ears, the sound still seems thinner and perhaps more tipped up in the HF's than I would have anticipated. Burning-in the tubes is a bit of a bear because these things with their grid voltages can't be left unattended so it's a few hours here & there. I went for the Acme 845's and 300B Black Treasures right from the start , no idea whether they need extended time. Thanks for the input.

My only complaint with the amp is I wish the tube cage would allow for Elrog 845's. It is just a bit short for those, so I have to leave it off. I do like to leave the cage on, just in case of accidents.

I had an LM 845 Premium. I loved it, but felt it needed more 'snap,' dynamics, so I upgraded to Amperex Bugle Boy 12ax7s, and Full Music 300bs. Swapped the FMs for Emissions Labs 300bs. Concluded that the 30wpc just wasn't enough for the Harbeth 30.2 Anniversaries, so I swapped out the LMP for a pair of BAT VK56 mono blocks and their VK 33 preamp. Sounds pretty good!

The guy who ended up with the LM845P LOVES it. It is a special integrated. Lovely soundstage, lots of air, sounds good.

Wonder how the LM845 Premium would sound paired with Tannoy Turnberry's?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.


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.

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.

Jonathan Halpern reached out to me via email. I sent him my location so I'm waiting to hear back if there is a dealer around this area. As I said, not holding my breath on that. Most of the hi-end storefronts went tits up around here quite a while ago.

As long as they are set up so you can bi-wire you should be good.