LD Customer Comments

"Today the Ladyday arrived in perfect order at my home in XXXX and I directly connected it to my speakers and CD player. The sound is already a big improvement (very detailed, non-sharp music) over my Marantz transistor amplifier, and the Ladydays are not yet burned in ! To my surprise they can also drive my self build low sensitive speakers (4 Ohm, 84 dB/m/watt) very well with good controlled bass.Thank you for your very good service and I will highly recommend all my friends, who are looking for a tube amplifier, DIY hifi supply. After a while I will also need a good pre-amplifier and I will surely look at your Basie."

"The amps are starting to burn-in and the sound is the BEST I've ever heard! Very holigraphic. I was listening to 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' (Pink Floyd), and it sound quadraphonic. The system images like crazy! I've only owned push-pull 2 way systems (Quicksilver Audio). This is my first SET set-up. These amps are blowing me away. I've been in Hi Fi since 1973, so I have a very trained ear. This system with the 'Ladies', is by far the most open, real, soundstage i've ever heard! Thank you for a fine design & build!"

"Ok, comparing the LD91 to the previous, there is actually no comparison. Your new amps sounded way better. They are lively sounding whereas the old ones sounded dull on your setup. Remember the cd 'Friday Night in San Francisco'. Wow, the speed, details , and the lifelike presentation is enough to win me over. It is one of the best or maybe it the best sounding amps I have heard, some more i don't believe it is coming from a 300b amps. One thing I feel is that the midrange bloom or should i say richness have not yet fully develop yet and as mention in the manual, the amorphous OPT need time to run in. So there is a lot of potential for your amps when it is fully run in. Maybe the next time I meet you I can hear them again"

"...the ladyday amps received - looks and plays beautiful, no problems whatsoever, thanks a lot!"

"Amps have about 5 hours on them now and sound very impressive, the last SET I had was a XXXXXXXX, very nice but too much hummmmm, about 2mV at speaker. The 91s at speaker are both 0.7 mV. I live in the country, and nights are VERY quiet so 2mV through 97dbm speakers in a smallish room drove me nuts. Sold the XXXXXXX to a friend who is very happy with them. The 91 has more "Guts", Vocals come from the lungs not the mouth. Detail is quite stunning, probably because of the low noise floor."

"We did last month a listening comparison of different tube amps on a pair of Klipsh La Scala speakers and I "won" the contest with my pair of Billies which was the cheapest amp of all that were tested!"

 

Ella Customer Comments

"Right from the start, I was knocked out by the sound of the Ella. I felt like I was hearing my favourite cds for the first time. It was as if the musicians were in the room with me: such transparency and detail. I also played some of my own recordings (I’m a musician) and it was like being in the control room listening to myself on the studio reproduction system (excellent of course). Vocals are extraordinarily clear and present, and acoustic instruments like double bass and alto sax sound so alive. The first evening, I took the Ella round to a friend’s house where we compared it with what he had previously thought of as hi-fi sound from his solid state system. He too was astounded by the sound quality. Since then, I have listened to many of my favourite cds as well as a few that I had neglected. I listen mostly to acoustic jazz, but I also gave Prince (Sign of the Times), Lou Reed (New York), Tom Waits (Mule Variations) and the Beatles (Revolver) a chance. This amp rocks! I have a Ron Carter (acoustic bass player) cd that I never listened to, as it was just one low rumble on my old amp - now I can hear every note clearly. The lightest brush strokes from jazz drummers are perfectly clear and the spectacular pyrotechnics from Sylvain Luc and Birelli Lagrène (French guitar players) on their Duet album are astonishing. I now have many jealous friends, lots of them musicians. Some of them can’t believe I built the amp myself (even I have trouble sometimes!). Everyone agrees that the aesthetics are good too. All together, a remarkable piece of kit, well worth the time and effort that went into building it."
 

Preamplifier Customer's Comments

"The Django S&B unit which I received from you five weeks ago, is performing really well, now that it has been burned in - thank you! I am very happy with it."

"I have put the WAVAC EC 300 B amplifier in the system today, WOW the two together are incredible match, very musical plus inner resolution is stunning. I have about 18 hours now on the transformers which are getting better all the time. I will keep you posted with news."

"This is just to say "thank you" for the Django. I know you say that it takes time to burn in, but it sounds fantastic already, and the build quality is superb too. When buying stuff over the internet one always worries that there will some regret somewhere, buth there isn't even the tiniest one."

"well simon, the django has logged about 70 hours. great product, works well in my system. i guess it will still evolve a little. i tend to agree with the reviews i've seen on the net. thanks again!!"

"Hi Brian, received the Django yesterday,thank you.Really like the elegant and minimalist look. Makes cd sound so much more pallatable, so I can't wait to see what the Cole sounds like when it is ready! The Django is yet another quality product, I am so glad I came across your company....

Once again I am totally satisfied with a superb product and your unceasing drive for high quality affordable hi-fi. Well done my friend, I know there are probably times when you are hassled to death by us all....but it is appreciated much more than you will ever know."

And...do these kit packages really offer value? What about just cobble the parts from various suppliers and save money?

"If I had ordered the Django kit instead of trying to do it myself, I seriously would have had my TVC up and running months earlier. It is simply too hard to acquire the needed parts one at a time as there is no central location to do so. Sure, you can get hookup wire at one location, but where do you get small quantities of teflon tubing in the proper gauge? How about switches for ground or +/-6dB gain? Probably someplace else. Guess what? I didn't realize I needed a switch to toggle between balanced and unbalanced outputs. In the end, I simply had to buy the parts a few at a time as I learned I needed them from DiyHiFi aynyway. So, add in the extra shipping charges and wait time.

Chasis? Forget about it, I tried to make my own because there is nothing presentable available for cheap. Then, I thought I would design a commercial quality chasis myself via Front Panel Express's CAD software and have them CNC it for me out of aluminum stock. Well, after weeks of fiddling around and not knowing what I was doing, I gave up. I may be a computer geek, but I have no experience with CAD software at all. Next came making my own. Well, I have a high-speed grinder, but I needed to buy carbide cutter bits and metal grinding tips. Add that cost in. Then, measuring, marking, drilling or punching the XLR and RCA connector holes so that they line up perfectly is a royal pain to get done cleanly.

How about knobs for the volume and source selector? Couldn't find any I liked, back to DiyHiFi for those.

All things said and done, instead of ordering a complete kit with one email and building it in an afternoon, I had to make three seperate purchases from DiyHiFi and pester Brian with at least 5-10 emails for advice on how to wire it all up. I bought the S&B trannis in Feburary of 2005, it is now early September and I still don't have a finish quality TVC. "