An other visit to Jean Marc's place !

[Still-One]

Jérôme it sounds like it was a nice visit to Jean Marc's home. Friends, gear and music. Nice!!

[tima]

Nice room. I'd enjoy seeing a shot of he art work above the rack.

[bart]

Merci Jérôme et Jean-Marc! Thank you for sharing.
Great system, beautiful room. Congrats!

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc jmajma

Thank you very much Jérôme and my friends here on AA.

This was a very very good afternoon with our friend Olivier too.

But to be fair, Jérôme, I have to say we compared what's not in the same league.

And moreover, The Line Magnetic 518iA (845 based, class A polarization, etc) has not been used more than 50 hours and the ProJect PhonoBox Tubes DS2 is brand new, so they cannot yet be judged. They are not broken in.

Here is a Stereophile Review on this Integrated amplifier:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/...ated-amplifier


I just wanted to add this beautiful amp (in the dark it's wonderful) and I wanted to be able to have 2 different amp systems on my speakers (I bought too Dynavox box:https://www.ebay.fr/i/263513098540?chn=ps&dispItem=1 )
and I wanted to be able to have the fabulous AVID ACUTUS on two preamps, this is possible with the ProJect:
https://www.son-video.com/article/pr...SAAEgKAI_D_BwE

I can use the Line Magnetic alone , integrated amp.
I can too have Mc preamp and Line Magnetic amp section.

What I cannot have (any clue?) is AVID on McC1000P preamp AND on ProJect to Line Magnetic.

So in the next months I'll be able to play with all these configurations and enjoy each system.

But today was very nice with my friends, thank you again Jérôme .

Hi Jean Marc,

Clearly LM and ProJect are not in the same league as McIntosh top range gear. I understand that you were looking for this super tube glow at night and not to outperform your current system.
The difference was so huge anyway that I do
not think that break in or other tubes will change significantly the result. Moreover my belief about break in is that it is just the "time needed to get used to a poor sound". [emoji23] and guess what ? The first claims of electronic break in were made by manufacturers to anticipate a reply to customers being less satisfied by a new gear that they would expect. You won't find such statement as " thank you for choosing our ABC amp. Performance will get better and better with time and will only become very good after xxx hours. And will still continue to improve from there. This is due to break in of the electronics components bla bla bla bla bla bla" in a McIntosh owners manual for example.
Well, real "component physical break in" might exist although never proven but I personally never heard night and day differences. I believe more in the psycho effect now. Getting older, I do favor the "evidenced based" experience and no one was ever able to show physical proofs of break in of any electronic component. Seems that the electrons do not care at all about how many of them already followed a given route before taking the race ! ; ) they do not suffer any kind of anxiety or stress ! And the receiving components are the same hosts as time goes by. They do not improve their level of service !
Of course the game is different with a stereo cartridge or suspended arms because of the mechanical suspension stiffness that clearly varies with time due to use and air degradation.
With stunning tubes in the LM integrated you will get a better sound that is for sure. I just doubt that they could approach the performance of the 1.2K.
There may be some tube amps able to compete with your 1.2K on the Alexias. A great tube amp could give a bit more air between the instruments and better saturation of the tones. But it will be very difficult to find a tube amp able to drive perfectly the Alexias in the bass as your 1.2K do. ( Maybe the Shindo CCQs which are indeed terrific in the bass but will clearly suffer from the low impedance dip of the Alexia's : you will have to change the tubes often and you may even damage the transformers by saturating them ). And this bass drive makes imho the Alexias coming to life.
I heard the Alexias sounding flat and boring with other amps, including high end ones that I won't mention here.
Next time I'm coming to your home I will bring my McIntosh MC225 amp. Not to say that it will drive the Alexias correctly in the bass. I highly doubt it will. But the mids and treble and the air may be very interesting. And since the 1960's, I guess the amp is broken in ! [emoji23] well....at least I am fully used to its "shitty" sound ! [emoji23]
My guess : after listening to the 225 there will be a nice LM integrated for sale !
The 225 also glows at night. AND....it was made by McIntosh with love. Of course the chinese owners do love their stuff. My guess is that their love is a bit different than the western one !
A 225 would complement your rack as no other amp. But you will have to find an other one because mine is not for sale.
And one day I will bring my CCQs...."just for fun".

[Jean-Marc jmajma]

Ok Jérôme, as usual you must be right I guess?

Right now, I'm listening to last Melody Gardot's LP (Live in Europe) on the LineMagnetic/Avid/proJect/Alexia system....and how to say it to you...it sounds delicious, Alberto would have said!!

To me, all this is just for fun, no brainer, just enjoy the music I love...I don't want to count how many angels can dance on the head of a pin!

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc jmajma

Ok Jérôme, as usual you must be right I guess?

No Jean Marc. I am "right" for MY ears. Just expressing my opinion. Not an absolute truth.
And you are right for your ears ! Each one is right about his feelings and senses.

By the way you agreed yesterday that your Mc set up sounds much better than the Line Magnetic amp or did I not get it well ?

If I had the same system as yours, I would not loose a precious minute of my life listening to the LM instead of the Mc's !

[Jean-Marc jmajma]

You got it well, but I repeat it's fun to listen to other gears.

You know I love and have or have had wonderful sport cars, and I like from times to times to take the very little FIAT 500 of my daughter!

Same for watches, I can appreciate a "little" Swatch.

Or in music, I love Diana Krall (and you don't like her, I got it well?? LOL).

BTW, thank you very much for having my daughter her in Paris! She found you very very sympathetic, but this is one thing I already knew...

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by Jean-Marc jmajma

You got it well, but I repeat it's fun to listen to other gears.

You know I love and have or have had wonderful sport cars, and I like from times to times to take the very little FIAT 500 of my daughter!

Same for watches, I can appreciate a "little" Swatch.

Or in music, I love Diana Krall (and you don't like her, I got it well?? LOL).

BTW, thank you very much for having my daughter her in Paris! She found you very very sympathetic, but this is one thing I already knew...

JM....
I like Diana Krall. She used to be a wonderful singer.
But she is still a wonderful jazz piano player.
BTW the last Gardot is so soporific that I can easily understand why you need the glowing of the 845's to stay awake ! [emoji23]

[Jerome W]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Jerome.......Always enjoy hearing about your visits with Jean Marc. His sound system is fabulous. Your description of what makes McIntosh McIntosh, timbre, accuracy, weight, dynamics hits the nail on the head. I enjoyed your post and the photos.

Hello Dear Dan,

I thought a bit about you when writing this thread.
Despite the fact that I tried many other things, and loved them a lot sometimes, I still consider McIntosh as my "home" in high end hifi. That was the start of my hifi journey and never ceased to be in my heart.
McIntosh is for ever. It is the benchmark against whom I judge the others.
I knew that this would resonate for you.

[Jean-Marc jmajma]

Originally Posted by Jerome W

JM....
I like Diana Krall. She used to be a wonderful singer.
But she is still a wonderful jazz piano player.
BTW the last Gardot is so soporific that I can easily understand why you need the glowing of the 845's to stay awake ! [emoji23]

Sure, compared to the Counting Crowes!!!LOL