Stereonow. Calm and intelligent equipment demonstrations for lovers of all types of music. 020 8447 8485

This section is divided as follows:

-----------------------

LFD NEWS

May 29th

Delivery delay on the MCT phono stage is now "at least 4 weeks"

May 18th 2008

As of today, back order situation is between 8 and 11 weeks depending on if you want the version with the on-board phone stage or not.

March 23rd 2008 - waiting list for the Integrated Zero LE Mk3

As of today, back order situation is between 3 and 4 weeks. Potenrial buyers are now placing deposits of £250 with Stereonow to get on the waiting list. These deposits are 100% fully refundable in the event of the buyer changing his or her mind.

March 19th - Dr Bews answers a question re the characteristics and pricing of his loudspeaker cable

Scroll down this page to the Q&A section. Thank you.

March 11th 2008 - reprint of Stereophile

Stereophile reviewed the LFD LE Mk.3 and we have a copy of the pdf here. (444k pdf, opens in new window)

March 4th 2008 - the LFD Anniversary Linestage

I spent a few hours with Dr. Bews yesterday and we discussed many aspects of LFD equipment, past, present and future.

Yes, there is an Anniversary Linestage. The design work has been completed but other than the working prototype, none have been built yet. What I saw yesterday were the pre-finished heavily milled thick front panels, and impressive they were too.

As you might have gathered, Dr. Bews is a cautious man and not given to dramatic statements about anything really. However what he did say was that the Anniversary linestage has taken him to the limit of his current knowledge and his current ability and therefore by implication is his finest linestage creation to date.

The facts are these:

1. It uses the identical circuits as developed for the Linestage 3. He felt that the circuit layout (as distinct from the components themselves) could not, given current technology, be improved.

2. Functionality is identical to Linestage 3 as indeed is the layout of the front and rear panels and the overall proportions. However ...

3. Every individual component in the Linestage 3 has been rigorously revaluated and in the main replaced either by components which although similar in specification to the original, actually sound better (curious I know, but there you are) or are of a higher specification. This root and branch evaluation goes as far as the nature and composition of the solder on every join, the replacement of the already high quality internal cable with the purest silver cable he can find, and lots of seemingly small but in fact serious improvements like that.

4. The retail price is £5,000 inc VAT

5. Small deposits are being taken now for anticipated delivery in 6 to 9 weeks.

There will be Anniversary editions of the PA3 monoblocks, but currently Dr Bews is less certain that the improvements he can make there are as significant as the ones he has achieved with the Linestage.

There is a currently ‘unofficial’ Anniversary (MC only) phonostage too. It's an MCT in Anniversay casework. I forgot to ask Richard if it sounded any different or indeed better than the standard MCT.He’s lent it to me so that I can premier it at the forthcoming High-Fidelity Show in March at Heathrow. I haven’t had time yet to hook it up. Watch this space!

March 4th 2008 - new casework for the Integated and a reuctant price rise too!

I was with the designer Dr Richard Bews yesterday. The current UK RRP for the integrated (without on-board phono stage) is £1,500 inc vat but is rising to £1,700 shortly. Not because of the review but because the people who make the casework had raised their prices substantially. However according to Dr Bews, the casework is of a better quality.

Among numerous other aspects of advanced audiophile thought and design, he is fascinated by the effect that sound vibration has on circuits and components. I asked him if he felt that these new cases might influence the quality of the sound. He expressed the view that while it hoped it would, he wasn't sure. Only time will tell, he said. Dr Bews is a cautious man!

Anyway, there might be an opportunity for 3 people to purchase at the pre increase price. Currently, the backorder situation is 3 to 4 weeks

Feb 2008 - LFD LineStage 3 and PA3 twin mono power amps to be shown at the Heathrow High-Fidelity Show in The Syndicate Room #1.

Details here: http://www.chestergroup.org/

Jan 2008 - LFD Integrated gets an outstanding review in the February 2008 issue of Stereophile.

If you would like a copy, then just email me here: enquiries@stereonow.co.uk

-----------------------

LFD: Questions and Answers:

Part 1 of 2

Question

"What's the story re the LFD interconnect range?"

Answer (by Dr Richard Bews)

Thank you for the question. Here is information on two of my range, the Spirolink II and the Reference Silver. When time permis, I will supply comments on my Grainless Interconnect, my Silver Horizon, my Silver Scorpion, my Black Widow and, my Diamond Viper.

Spirolink II

This is a very high quality analogue interconnect consisting of grain orientated large crystal copper conductors sleeved in the best available PTFE insulation. This cable is unscreened, but the twisted pair construction does provide good noise immunity. The resulting sonic performance can be most easily characterised as fast, open and transparent.

Reference Silver

This is almost the most open, transparent and natural sounding cable we have so far produced. Ultra high purity large crystal annealed silver conductors are employed, sleeved in a custom silicon rubber dialectric. The cable can be compared with the very best, regardless of price and is a real improvement in high resolution systems.

Question

"What is the sonic hierarchy of LFD loudspeaker cables? Could you give a few comments that would help clarify the situation please?"

Answer (by Dr Richard Bews)

The cost of raw materials, particularly silver and copper has pushed up the pricing of all my cables. Some rises are zero, but other rises being closer to 15%, particularly high content silver cables.

LFD Spiroflex I is …

In between DNM and Nordost cables, i.e. a very good solid core loudspeaker cable, that is open and not particularly bright by which I mean a good honest cable that very good value for money and can be put under carpets, i.e. it’s about 6-7 mm in diameter. It’s a dynamic version of DNM, but does not sound as coarse and forward as Nordost.

(Guideline price for a terminated 3m pair is £150.00 inc vat)

LFD Grainfree biwire is …

a biwire cable only, since it uses different conductors for bass and tweeter, i.e. multi-strand Grainfree copper for bass and solid core Grainfree conductor for tweeter. This is the most popular LFD loudspeaker cable since it has a full bass with a warm mid and controlled top. This cable is very good and the Signature version uses a Grainfree silver conductor instead of copper for the tweeter conductor. The Signature version is reference standard regarding sound quality despite being relatively cheap. The Grainfree biwire cables are VERY good choice for solid-state equipment.

(Guideline price for a terminated 3m pair is £350.00 inc vat)

LFD Spiroflex III is …

really a sophisticated version of the Grainfree signature cables, with slightly different technical properties – but very similar conductors and sound but at a higher price and with a superior visual appearance. Probably the ultimate choice for copper/silver hybrid for expensive solid state equipment.

(Guideline price for a terminated 3m pair is £1,500.00 inc vat)

LFD Silver reference is …

a very good SINGLE wire cable, particularly for tube equipment. Its more open that the copper cables – but can highlight solid state equipment weaknesses by which I mean solid state can be a little clinical and lack a little warmth compared to tubes. I sell a lot of silver reference for tube equipment and the better solid state owners.

(Guideline price for a terminated 3m pair is £1,000.00 inc vat)

LFD Ultima Silver is …

a superior version of silver reference, since it uses slightly different diameter silver but most importantly uses silicon rubber dielectric. You achieve more bass weight and a sweeter mid and top – which means that it helps the sound of most solid state equipment while still allowing tube equipment to sound very good (i.e. allows resolution for tubes and helps with the clinical sound of solid state).

(Guideline price for a terminated 3m pair is £2,000.00 inc vat)

Question

"It is pretty clear that we are both impressed by the products that Richard at LFD has produced. I have auditioned may items which do not seem to match up with LFD within & beyond their price ranges…here is my question. Do you have or have you had the chance to listen to the LFD MMC phono-stage? & if so what Cartridges would you recommend which would work well as i am currently looking to upgrade my phonostage / cartridge.

My system comprises of LFD pre & Power (updated by Richard) LFD Cables, Transparent Audio cables, Michell Orbe/ SME IV (complete VDH 501 silver cabled), Magnaplanar 1.4’s.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

SW"

Answer (by Howard Popeck)

Yes, I have heard the MMC at a friend’s home. It is a first-rate phono stage. However, whereas LFD amplifiers don’t in my view have many rivals, the recently released PS Audio Phono stage (I’m going to be getting one within the next fortnight) at around £780 (roughly half the price of the LFD MMC) puts the value aspect of that LFD into some question.

As you go up the LFD range though, it's a different matter entirely.

On balance, I suspect the LFD will be marginally more natural. My good friend Christopher Breunig (writes for Hi-Fi News) wrote that the PS Audio retrieved more detail than he’d heard previously. But then again, he’d not experienced LFD.

Re cartridges, given that I have used most of it, and even though I don’t sell cartridges, my preference would be for anything from the Dynavector range, possible Benz and possibly the newly released Audio Technica AT OC9.

Of interest to you might be my previously owned LFD MM0 phono stage in very good condition. This model is no longer made, but can easily be serviced if needs be. I will be advertising this for £488 inc vat and carriage. Moreover, anyone purchasing it from me will receive a 100% trade in allowance against any LFD or PS Audio product for 12 months after the initially purchase. Such is the quality, popularity and rarity of LFD phono stages these days. The unit is availble for 21 days sale or return.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Howard

Question

"I am interested in LFD products for:

(1- Definitely): integrated amp with phono stage for 2nd system to convert LPs to DVD-A. My son has had an LFD integrated zero for 15+ years and he has not found anything better to replace it. Reading the recent review of the updated Mistral has led to this missive.

(2 - Possibly): power amp to drive newly acquired Harbeth Super HL5s. Their transparency has caused me to re-examine the capability of the remainder of the system. I currently use the Alner-Hamblin SA400 amp which is very good. This is driven by a Bel Canto DAC3 which is superb."

Answer (By Howard Popeck)

First, thank you for your interest. I have attached a PDF of the February 2008 Stereophile review of the LFD Integrated. It is one of the most positive reviews of any product I've read in recent years.

Currently the Integrated (Integrated Zero LE Mk3) is on 3-4 weeks back order, with or without the on-board phono stage.

The most popular front panels to date are Stainless Steel, then black.

If you would like to join the waiting list, then all I will require is a holding deposit of £100.

The RRP is £1,500 without the phono stage and with phono stage is £1,700 inc vat. Carriage is free.

Congratulations on acquiring the wonderful Super HL5s. I love them. The ideal LFD power amp for you would be the Powerstage PA1 Mk2 at £1,500 Although the least expensive of the LFD power amps, it is more than adequate. Certainly the Powerstage PA2M (SE) which is 2 mono power amps in one case would be noticeably better, as you might expect at £3,000, the PA3 mono-blocks at £4,000 per pair would be overkill in the context of your system.

Home demonstrations, by which I mean I would visit you, are happily offered and entirely without obligation, coercion or pressure. I could, one afternoon (excluding Fridays) bring along the latest Integrated, and both of the power amps for you to audition. I'm solidly booked next week, but could certainly visit you the week after, if that was your wish.

Question

"Putting to one side for a moment your quest for absolute neutrality re your interconnects, would it be fair to say that your interconnects are to some extent a subtle 'tone control"? If so, what would you recommend to tighten the bass between a solid state pre amp and valve power amp. Also between a older type slightly hard-on-female vocals CD player and a solid state amp. Serious buyer. Thanks."

Answer (by Dr Richard Bews)

No cable is neutral, you have a range of neutrality, i.e what most equipment will accomodate and customers consider to be correct. Then you match a particular cable strength to the equipment and the customer preference, i.e a very fine tone control.

For tight bass control (slightly lean) with good mid/top you go for Spirolink IV or Silver Horizon (Horizon is similar tonally to spirolink IV but has less grain), these are often used with tube equipment. The grainless is good, but sometimes is a little bass heavy for tube pre/power, often a good choice for solid state pre/power.

I assume you are talking about an old philips type CD player (good bass, but not subtle) needs a "nice" sounding cable with no defects and subtle sound. This is starting to dictate the Silver Scorpion, which is good everywhere (the Black Widow, is Silver Scorpion with more air at the top and deeper bass).

Part #2 (May 29th 2008)

Introduction/overview

Earlier today, catalysed by an unexpectedly powerful outcome yesterday comparing the LFD MCT phonostage to a phono stage from a state-of-the-art USA valve maker (through the mighty yet subtle QUAD 2905 speakers, which are superior to any of the speakers I currently stock!) I emailed Dr. Richard Bews, the driving force behind LFD, with a few questions.

To my pleasure and amazement, given that he has a runaway success on his hands due to the incredible review of his Mk3 Integrated amplifier in the Feb. 2008 issue of Stereophile magazine, I received a comprehensive and typically courteous reply – very quickly.

Being a bit of a technical dummy on these sort of things I needed to phone him to gain his authoritative but patiently gently explanations of all the bits I didn’t understand. I came away, after that call, understanding only about 15% more than I did previously.

Thus the Q&As you are about to read is to some extent a compound of Dr Bews’ emailed responses and my own notes from the subsequent conversation earlier today.

As it turns out, this is very much far from being the entire story.

Some of the techniques he uses to get the incredible performance from the MCT are beyond my comprehension. Some are currently beyond belief. The point being that while the MCT is without doubt the most musically credible phono stage I have ever owned, let alone heard, a full interview (complete with my write up of some of the demonstrations he’ll conduct for me in private) will need to follow – in due course.

He’ll demonstrate (and I hope I’ll be able to hear, and he assures me I will – if I don’t go to any more Who gigs for a while) the sonic differences between very high purity silver single strand internal interconnect cables (which he doesn’t believe is good enough) versus his own multi-strand high purity silver interconnect using 5 different and precisely calibrated diameter strands, which he does use in the MCT.

I should explain that the LFD MCT is an anonymous heavy black box with a pair of input RCA sockets and a pair of RCA output sockets and an IEC mains input – and that’s it. No controls, no adjustments and not even an on/off button.

Anyway, here’s what I learned today:

What’s your design philosophy re phono stages in general?

All LFD Products (including phonostages) obey our primary requirements of simplicity of design, obsessive passive component selection and fanatical attention of the layout of PCB and PSU development!

How, if I’ve got this correct, is the MCT’s outstanding sound in part due to your R&D re the battery powered phono stage commissioned by SME?

The Battery Disc preamplifier was the ultimate statement of the LFD philosophy, all other LFD phonostages are compromises. That’s what SME commissioned me to design and built to help their R&D teams to engineer their turntables.

This device is NOT available for retail!

However, the MCT is trying to get close to the battery disc preamplifier sonically – using all my experience of passive selection (the circuit is, frankly, mundane i.e. just an IC feedback circuit with transformer coupled input to give good noise performance).

This circuit should never sound this good, but passive components (important) and multiple diameter silver cables (very important) produce a seriously good sound.

What can you reveal about the input sensitivity and gain?

The gain can be increased by 6dB by soldering link on PCB, but 60dB gain at 1kHz is a very good compromise for a MC phono stage

Why are external loading controls are, in the context of your design, clearly irrelevant? Or put another way, how you achieve this incredible performance without all the other paraphernalia that adorns some other state-of-the-art phono stages?

Circuit complication of expensive phonostage are a DISADVANTAGE. (Dr Bews' capitals, not mine) Take for example input loading. LFD use special resistors like Shinko Tantulum resistors (no longer in production, but I have approx 10,000 in stock, which cost me over £20k) in the MCT which is much more important for sound than changing loading with poor sounding metal film resistors using poor quality switches.

EQ components are very important, and the capacitors used in the MCT are obsolete capacitors. They have a special sound which can never be reproduced by other types of capacitors. It’s lucky I have 1000's of these in stock!. Like cooking, use the best ingredients and cook properly – to produce a very good meal

What currently in your view is the limiting factor on phono stage development – other than R&D time?

Design is probably not the limiting factor – it’s probably the PSU quality, layout and passive component selection. Advances in these areas will push the sound forward until we can hear the circuit – but I think that currently we hear more of the implementation of the circuit design, rather than the sound of the circuit itself

We do a SE version of the MCT where improvements in the PSU (SE is £4k retail) that makes the sound have much more foundation, with blacker silences, i.e. a noticeable and worthwhile improvement.

For people with vinyl-only systems who do not want to additional circuitry of a preamp, what would you advise as a no-compromise external volume control. A passive unit perhaps?

MCT with any external passive volume control will compromise the sound of the MCT because you will hear the pot (it’s a passive preamp effectively). The tonal balance of passive preamplifiers are typically not sonically correct (lacking in bass slam, but are often open and transparent), and this bass slam deficiency would need to be addressed.

This can be done, i.e. switched attenuators and multiple diameter silver wiring. Unfortunately though – to do this properly, this section would cost more than the MCT itself!

Most passive preamplifiers are not good enough in some sonic respects and the best of them are as expensive as mains-driven linestages. My advice is to choose the best sounding mains preamplifier you can afford, since you not going to save money in the long run. As the Americans say, there are no free lunches.

Any advance information re an Anniversary phono stage – even though it doesn’t appear in the current product listing?

Anniversary phono stage, if I get around to it – which is doubtful currently – is going to be based on a mains powered version of the battery disc stage. Unfortunately it is going to take a VERY long time to produce anything sonically better than the MCT (or SE version of it) as it is currently, since the these are rather good, i.e. they are the best sounding mains powered phono stages regardless of price – as you and your customers have discovered.

Would an MCT with onboard volume control (not remote though) for dedicated minimalist vinyl enthusiasts ever be considered by you.

A MCT with volume control may be possible with modification to MCT phonostage section, so that the volume control matches with MCT phonostage section to give very good sound that approaches MCT in combination with very good linestage (or very good passive pre). Do not expect this product to be under £5,500 retail.

A bit steep for a volume control isn’t it i.e. another £2.5k?

The cost of the volume control is miniscule. So are the mods to the case work. However for reasons I’ll explain at some later point on your site Howard, the physical position of the circuit board has to be changed. This in turn requires a lot more of the complex 5 different diameter high purity silver strands I mentioned earlier. It is a complex task. And that’s just the tip of this iceberg.

-----------------------

LFD

In a nutshell …

100% reliability, impeccable design expertise, over-specified, very high musicality, can bring out the best in even cheap speakers, UK-built and, with a very enlightened and cost effective attitude to owner upgrades. All that and a complete absence of hype, bullshit or egomania.

I don’t stock Naim, but it’s true to say that I very much like the sound of some of their earlier offerings and from my personal perspective, LFD equipment encompasses all of the very finest attributes of early Naim equipment – but without any of the characteristics that seem to irk and irritate some people on some forums that host Naim-basing threads.

Unhesitatingly recommended.

The back story …

Well … it’s hard to ignore the facts, however inconvenient they may be if one truly believes in integrity rather than insincerely repeating the rhetoric.

And the fact is that quite a few of my friends have owned and continue to own LFD equipment, including the legendary DAC3 (just 30 made and now out of production because of the unavailability of the preferred chipset) and I’ve not been able to demonstrate anything more satisfactory – at any price.

Moreover, they didn’t buy their LFD stuff from me and yes, we all remain firm friends. I’d be an idiot to ignore the reality. For many experienced and might I say more mature listeners who’ve ‘been around the block’ quite a few times, LFD is the ultimate.

On top of this, despite its stark appearance, it doesn’t look, feel or weigh sufficiently badly enough to justify being housed in a bunker!

On top of this, I’ve owned and continue to own pieces from LFD’s past. Their integrated amps, in terms of sheer listenability without any fatigue whatsoever are frankly astonishing. The current iteration of those early designs is even finer. Moreover the LFD linestages (preamps) and the LFD power stages (power amps) are outstanding.

I’ve owned numerous Krell power amps, Audio Research power amps and Accuphase power amps. The finest, in musical terms of all of those was the Accuphase P-60 full Class A. That’s now in Belgium. My LFD PA3 mono power amps (£4k per pair) are everything that the P-60 produces, but with substantially more muscle and with superior low-volume detail retrieval.

In fact the PA3s sounds like Class A, but aren’t Class A. These are my reference power amps. The line stages and phono stages are, within their respective price bands, in a class of their own.

The range

All prices include VAT. Some items from stock, and some are subject to a waiting list.

Phonostage MMC £1,500

Phonostage MCT £3,000

Integrated Zero LE (MkIII) ** £1,700

Integrated Zero LE (MkIII) with on-board phono stage ** £1,900

Linestage LSI (MkII) £1,500

Linestage LS2 Silver Signature £2,200

Linestage LS3 £3,000

Powerstage PA1 (MkII) £1,500

Powerstage PA2M (SE) mono £3,000 per pair

Powerstage PA3 (dB) mono £4,000 per pair

** indicates new heavier duty casetwork.

Additional information

Technical information about LFD products

An Interview with LFD creator, Richard Bews

Demonstrations of LFD equipment