Shipped to H. Manback yesterday. Impressions forthcoming. Thanks

I would agree; I wasn't all that impressed right out of the box, but after about 80-100 hours of burn in the LISST became much more enjoyable with my LCD-3F and I will regularly rotate them in with my best NOS tubes depending on my mood. Franz, give them a little more time and see if you don't...

I'm sorry to hear it, but the Mani should fix the problem. I don't have much experience with the LP-60, but I have used the Mani + A2 as a headphone setup with a variety of headphones across the gamut of impedances with great results. As rmullins08 pointed out, the Mani will offer more gain, and...

Thanks.   It comes with a solid foam block that is perforated into 1cm cubes of foam (Pelican calls it Pick N Pluck foam). All I had to do was arrange the tubes on top of the foam to see which cubes I would need to remove, then I simply plucked out the foam blocks by hand to give me the shapes...

While on the topic of MJ2 accessories I thought I would mention a storage option I have enjoyed for my MJ2 tubes. The Pelican 1120 case is a nearly bulletproof way of organizing and storing up to four sets of tubes. The cases are pretty cheap and match well with those who already own LCD series...

Yes, that's what I did. I saved the screws and feet in a separate bag and used the resulting holes as a guide for where to apply the new feet.   Sonically I noticed the greatest difference with these on my turntable. That said, having bought socket savers to cool my tubes I wanted to cool the...

I would recommend picking up a four pack of Vibrapods (model 2) from Amazon. At $24 for a four pack they are much less expensive and based on others' reviews provide comparable vibration/clearance benefits. If you want to step up from there (literally in terms of clearance) you can always add in...

Yes, you can listen to either RCA or balanced in using either balanced or SE out.

Understandable. Using LISSTs would solve the tube longevity and heating issues, but if you're okay with controlling your volume directly from your monitors you're probably best off going directly from the GUMBY's SE outs.   Cheers

Negative. Power must be on.   Edit: If you want a passive pre-amp the SYS will do the trick (assuming you are okay with using SE in/outs).

Apologies for the delayed response. It sounds like you've already done a pretty thorough job of troubleshooting. I'd have to agree with your diagnosis; it sounds like you've got a bum tube, and not from being worn-out. I haven't purchased from Upscale before (though I have read good reviews of...

Not sure exactly what you are describing in terms of negative "feedback". Hissing could come from anywhere in the chain and flipping the input or gain switch on the MJ2 itself will cause a momentary "click" followed by a few seconds of high-frequency ringing. Personally I don't find this to be a...

Two things to keep in mind:   Like with a conventional, passive set of speakers you always want to turn your source (MJ2) on first, then turn on your speakers. When powering down you should turn off the speakers first, then your source. This prevents the "thumping" you've described and will...

I have a Debut Carbon DC (though with Ortofon 2M Red) and the Mani and have no issues with noise playing through my integrated amplifier and only a very small hiss when playing though my Mjolnir 2 at high gain and high volume with my LCD-3's. I have attributed this small noise to the 3 meters...

Sounds like a rather daunting design challenge, though from the depth of your description I have no doubt that you're up to the task.   That said, while I would be curious to try such an amp if you ever produced one, I would be more likely to upgrade my Mani to a reference-class solid state...