THE
ABSOLUTE SOUND, issue #118'1999
Jonathan
Valin
excerpts
The LAMM ML2
single-ended monoblocks are the best power amplifiers I've heard.
...Honest to [G-d],
listening to these amps...was like th[e] very first taste of High
End audio all over again. The LAMM ML2s aren't just better than most
other amps; they are so much better that you will find it hard (and
a little depressing) to go back to the way things were. ...the LAMM
amps throw the largest, most transparent, most continuous soundfield
I've heard...And the way the LAMMs layer images in space is nonpareil.
...they make perfect
geometric sense of instruments and voices that, through other amps,
may appear vaguely, maybe a little behind, a little in front, a
little to this side or that of each other. The ML2s rearrange the
sonic furniture, putting more space, more definitively, between and
around instruments, even within dense choirs of instruments, than
anything I've heard before. It should be obvious now, from their
dynamic resolution, the amount of inner detail I'm reporting on, and
the phenomenal soundfield they throw, that the ML2s are without
question the most transparent amps I've yet heard. They just don't
have any grain. None. And their depth of quiet combined with their
stunning clarity makes them sound almost as direct, as unmediated,
as the real thing. The sheer living presence (and sheer gorgeous
timbre)...is as close to the concert hall experience as I've
experienced from a stereo system. How about the LAMMs' bass and
treble response--those betes
naires of single-ended
amplifiers (and pet peeves of single-ended-amplifier detractors)?
Well, I hate to disappoint the cynics, but the ML2s have excellent
bass and treble response. Indeed, although I'm getting tired of
putting it this way, the ML2s' bass is some of the best I've heard.
...The ML2s...go from
top to bottom like laundry dropping down a chute. No tip-up, no
plumminess, just speed and transparency and incredible impact.
...Without that touch of
ersatz tube warmth, you won't believe how clear bass lines
become--and how much transient detail and natural power these amps
produce.
..OK. Let's catch our
breaths. No grain, super-transparency, tremendous dynamic range and
scaling, superior tonal balance. So, I guess, the ML2s have no
character, right? Sort of. It depends on what you mean by character.
If you mean a predominant coloration, then no. The ML2s are close to
colorless neutral.
...As a result, timbres
sound exceptionally true-to-life. Voices, strings, percussion,
winds, brasses (just marvelous on brasses) are fool-you natural.
...Not only that, but if
you want to hear what these amps are capable of in the way of
dynamic range, the loudspeaker had better be capable of reproducing
dynamics with world-class speed and impact. Which means that the
ML2s aren't going to fill the bill for most of you. But let's just
say you own the right speaker...then--then
you've got the stuff that dreams are made of, and you will live
happily ever after.
...At the moment...the
laurels belong to the ML2 alone.
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