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Presentation
of LAMM in Athens, Greece
by MF Audio (January, 2002)
The
first Club Meeting of the New Year was held on
Sunday 13 January 2002 @ MF-Audio's
Show Room
(comments by L. Valleras)
click
here to go to the Audiophile Club of Athens
presentation page
MF
Audio is a small new company. It
operates from the home of its owner, where the small
living room doubles as the show room. This is a good
idea since many Hellenic audiophiles' living rooms are
of this or slightly larger proportions. This way, they
can listen to a system in a room more closely
resembling their own, furnished in a 'normal' way with
no special room treatment.
  I
arrived early with our technical expert PD. I wanted
to start the listening session immediately before the
"crowd" arrived, but a heated discussion
with
Mr. Fouassis about hi-end's problems in the world and
particularly in Greece, kept postponing the beginning
of the audition. I began suspecting that MF was doing
it on purpose to augment my appetite for the Hi-End
symposium that was to follow (Music-Food-Drink). We
decided to mainly listen to "ordinary recordings
" and not 'audiophile' ones in order to have a
different look at the capabilities of the system than
the one we had at the Hi-End show. We started the
audition with the ML1 90 watts. The sound was great.
The speakers disappeared in the small room leaving a
coherent soundstage in all three dimensions. I have to
say that it is not often that you hear depth layering
which in my opinion is one of the most difficult
things to achieve. The midrange was very natural with
no trace of grain or electronic haze. The lows were
right as they should be with no overhang, going as low
as anyone would reasonably want them to, clear and
full of their harmonics as they are in real life.
Highs were smooth, clear and harmonically right.
Overall the sound was emotionally involving,
captivating and making you want to listen to more and
more music. I wasn't "impressed", I was
happy.
  I
already hear all of you skeptics wondering if I found
nothing wrong with the system. The only thing I can
tell you is that maybe it is better than life. Maybe
it makes life more beautiful than it is. But that is
fine with me, and you should not forget that no matter
how good the front end was, it was still a valve
player costing half the price of the pre, fourth the
price of the speakers and fifth! the price of the
Amps.
The room was crowded
by now since sixteen half crazy audiophiles and music
lovers plus MF and his son were in the room, many of
them constantly talking, some slowly, some shouting
with glazed eyes, some trying to listen to the system.
It was time to make a change of amps in order to try
to understand the differences between them. We tried
with partial success to pacify the excited crowd while
the change was taking place. And then, we listened.
  For
another time it was proven to me that to be really
certain about anything in the performance of audio
equipment you have to make quick AB comparisons.
During the last Hi-End show in Athens, I heard both
ML1 and M1.1 amps during different visits to MF
Audio's room but their was considerable time lag
between the auditions. In the limited time I had, I
could not tell when I entered the room if I was
listening to the valve or the hybrid amp.
Now that I have been
familiarized somewhat with the system and the change
was very quick, I was astonished by the real and
immediately appreciated differences between the amps.
Since the room was crowded and this is not any kind of
formal test, I do not want to be absolute in anything,
but my immediate 'gut' reaction was to think that,
yes, the extra money the valve amp costs is definitely
a worthwhile investment. The sound of the valve amp
was more involving with better micro dynamics and
inner detail. The leading edges of notes seemed more
real. The total lack of mechanical sound was
breathtaking, the bass 'as it is in real life'. We
changed back to the valve amps to be certain of our
findings.
  I
remained captive of the ML 1.I plan to return shortly
to MF Audio for another more extended session with my
recordings that I know very well. By the above I don't
want to diminish in any way the excellence of the
M1.1. It is just that it happened that I was so taken
with the ML1.
There was another
point of view (PD, SM): The hybrid is more neutral
with deeper and more defined bass. It is exposing the
deficiencies of the recordings, and that is why it
seems slightly mechanical compared to the ML1 which
masks with it's 'oh so beautiful' sound the harshness
of the recording.
What is the truth? God
knows the truth. The audiophile who takes both amps
home for let's say two months and listens to them day
and night with very familiar recordings using
different sources, cables and two or three speakers,
HE knows the truth. There was a time when professional
writers used to do that. Now it is happening less and
less.
The speakers proved
once more that you don't need very large enclosures to
have great sound and that you can have hi-end sound in
a gorgeous smallish package, admittedly at a price.
The CD player proved that digital has gone a long way
and that you can have great sound at a reasonable
price, a fact that a few years ago seemed impossible.
Music Program
Highlights (only CD's):
- High Hills Soundtrack
(Antilles 314510855-2)
- Reservoir Dogs (Soundrack)
(MCA MCD 10541)
- Belafonte at Carnegie
Hall (Classic compact LSOCD 6006 2CD's)
- Tanita Tikaram
"Ancient heart" (WEA 2292-43877-2)
- BBC Radio Classics
(IMP)
- Telemann + Vivaldi
(BIS-CD-271)
- Alexia "In a
Jazz mood" (BMG-RCA 74321-451042)
- Ella Fitzgerald
"Clap hands here comes Charlie" (Verve
835646-2)
System:
- Parsifal Encore
speakers by Verity, driven by LAMM ML1 (valve) &
Μ1.1 (hybrid) shifting each other, with
Metronome Technologie CD2V signature CDplayer,
feeding the LAMM L1 preamplifier.
- Interconnects:
Nirvana SX RCA (CD - pre) & SL XLR (pre - amps)
- Speaker cables:
Nirvana SL
- Power cables: Nirvana
digital pc (CD player) & Nirvana analogue pc
(rest)
Anyway, I keep forgetting that I have limited space. I
have to tell you that we also had a great home cooked
dinner. Mrs. Fouassis was very kind and hospitable and
so was her daughter and son. I can't remember a time
when we felt more at home at a place we visited for
the first time. All the food was unbelievingly good
and the dessert of the most extraordinary quality. In
the kitchen there were a few of us of the heavier kind
long after the others had finished. A modern view was
discussed. It proposes that the heavier you are the
better sound you have in your house. Your body acts as
an absorber and diffuser, more so concerning your own
ears, which are closer to your mass "o
kalofagomenos akui kalitera". Psychological
matters are also involved.
We were
sorry we had to go! We promised to return shortly to
listen to the system, make better and deeper (ha ha
...) judgments, listen to the great MAGNUM Dynalab
tuners and eat the great turta. See you later!
Thank you,
MF Audio!
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M1.2
Reference