Alright you GM70 fans, start $$$aving. Lamm has built a GM70 SET featuring no less than, among other things, tubes, filter chokes, a delay circuitry, multi-turn potentiometers, some gold plated stuff and a price tag of (wait for it) $126,290. Preliminary, that is. With tubes, filter chokes, a delay circuitry, multi-turn potentiometers and some gold plated stuff, shoulda made it a cool million.
Hmmm at that price point would you want a triode amp or this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/05-L...81QQihZ012QQcategoryZ6338QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/05-L...81QQihZ012QQcategoryZ6338QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
neither, i'd want an Acura NSX.
http://www.edmunds.com/media/reviews/top10/04.cars.best.residual/04.acura.nsx.500.jpg
then with the leftover money i'd mod the car and also build a ridiculous pair of KT-88 monoblocks with independent, regulated plate and screen supplies, the finest toroidal output and power transformers, and granite chassis and then a huge isolation toroid in the cabinet beneath the amps. and all the music i could ever want.
http://www.edmunds.com/media/reviews/top10/04.cars.best.residual/04.acura.nsx.500.jpg
then with the leftover money i'd mod the car and also build a ridiculous pair of KT-88 monoblocks with independent, regulated plate and screen supplies, the finest toroidal output and power transformers, and granite chassis and then a huge isolation toroid in the cabinet beneath the amps. and all the music i could ever want.
sorenj07 said:then with the leftover money i'd mod the car and also build a ridiculous pair of KT-88 monoblocks with independent, regulated plate and screen supplies, the finest toroidal output and power transformers, and granite chassis and then a huge isolation toroid in the cabinet beneath the amps. and all the music i could ever want.
Don't forget the multi-turn potentiometers.
Hey-Hey!!!,
I think I'd put up an additional $40k and get a Ford GT. The NSX is a bit 'off the rack'.
But consider how long that amount would fund DIY projects...a process that would result in better sound and greater entertainment.
To Lamm's credit, they are not offering 'Laboratory Only' power ratings like dH does with their 50Watt claims. Low production stuff like this has got to be expensive. I wonder if their margin is the same or smaller than on their 'attainable' gear.
cheers,
Douglas
I think I'd put up an additional $40k and get a Ford GT. The NSX is a bit 'off the rack'.
But consider how long that amount would fund DIY projects...a process that would result in better sound and greater entertainment.
To Lamm's credit, they are not offering 'Laboratory Only' power ratings like dH does with their 50Watt claims. Low production stuff like this has got to be expensive. I wonder if their margin is the same or smaller than on their 'attainable' gear.
cheers,
Douglas
Dept of ya gotta be kidding!!
I noticed a "patent" listed on one of the product pages.
5470795
Look it up.
I expected a patent on a circuit?
Nope.
This is a "patent" on using stock connectors to connect to the pins of a plastic flat pak transistor's leads!!!
Say what??
Yet another in the "everything is patentable if someone didn't patent it first"???
OMG!!
_-_-bear
I noticed a "patent" listed on one of the product pages.
5470795
Look it up.
I expected a patent on a circuit?
Nope.
This is a "patent" on using stock connectors to connect to the pins of a plastic flat pak transistor's leads!!!
Say what??
Yet another in the "everything is patentable if someone didn't patent it first"???
OMG!!
_-_-bear
serengetiplains said:
Don't forget the multi-turn potentiometers.
Hey, that's worth at least an additional buck or two. Now, add in your dealer markup, and we are talking big bucks...$4, $5, maybe even $6 bucks before it's all over. Add in intellectual property, and voila...we're looking at $15 for that little diity....
...x2...they are monoblocks after all.
over priced piece of garbage
I wouldn't say Lamm amps are garbage. As a matter of fact they are of excellent quality and performance. However, they are unbelieveably over-priced. That's an understatement.
John
With a limited run of such an expensive product, you'd think Mr. Lamm would want to keep the innards under wraps.
The amp was present, but not demoed at CES, and surprisingly, the guys at Audio Federation were able to get detailed photos of the ML3 and the power supply... both from the outside and the inside
The pictures are about one third of the way down this page: http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2007/CES2007/day1/index.htm
Anyone interested in building a pair of $126,000 amps? If I knew more about tubes I'd love to make a pair. Perhaps someone here could reverse engineer it. I think it would make for a great project. In his press release he even listed the tube compliment...
The amp was present, but not demoed at CES, and surprisingly, the guys at Audio Federation were able to get detailed photos of the ML3 and the power supply... both from the outside and the inside
The pictures are about one third of the way down this page: http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2007/CES2007/day1/index.htm
Anyone interested in building a pair of $126,000 amps? If I knew more about tubes I'd love to make a pair. Perhaps someone here could reverse engineer it. I think it would make for a great project. In his press release he even listed the tube compliment...
some Hammond chokes and ..... presto!
Yeah, but these Hammond chokes are hand wound by Inuit craftsmen in cryogenic chambers.
serengetiplains said:Wow, some Hammond chokes and ..... presto!
Gotta cut corners somewhere to keep the price under $126,290. If he used Lundahl, Magnequest, or Electra-Print for chokes the price would have swelled to at least $126,500!
jlsem said:I wouldn't say Lamm amps are garbage. As a matter of fact they are of excellent quality and performance. However, they are unbelieveably over-priced. That's an understatement.
John
I wouldn't say so either, but that's just plain ridiculous. Anything I could design and build would sound at least as good, and probably better for a price at least a couple of orders in magnitude lower. Here is one big problem:
Unlike these audiophools, I haven't fallen for that nonsense that gNFB is the spawn of the devil. If you start with a good fundamental design, adding gNFB can only improve the performance. gNFB adds compensation for component ageing, improves linearity, and speaker damping. That can only help improve the sonics.The ML3 is a 32W, no overall feedback, pure Class A single ended amplifier.
(Emphasis Mine)
Secondly, I have some doubts as to their choice of power finals. The GM70 requires 20V for the filament. Of course, the GM70 was originally intended for use as an RF final, and in that capacity, it makes no difference. However, for audio, it does. Since the effective plate voltage as seen from the cathode doesn't exceed 5V or so, the voltage gradient along the directly heated cathode can lead to the phenomonon of the "dissappearing cathode" when that voltage exceeds the effective plate voltage, and ceases to emit electrons. This turns a 1.5 law device into a 2.5, or even a 3.5 law device, with much increased distortion as more of the cathode becomes ineffective. This very thing contributes to thereason why the 45 is judged better than the 6A3 (6.3V filament) or the 300B (7.5V filament). It explains why 300Bs run with subnominal filament voltages have better sonics, and why the Chinese are making a 2.5V version of the 300B. There are better choices for audio finals.
All things considered, I know I can build a better amp, and so could quite a few of our regulars. Even all the "special" components they name are available from Mouser.
I don't see anything there that even comes close to justifying a price like that. If I were to spend over a hundred grand for an amp, I'd expect something like this at a bare minimum:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Specs:
Plate Dissipation (Max.) 300,000 Watts
Screen Dissipation (Max.) 3,500 Watts
Grid Dissipation (Max.) 1,500 Watts
Frequency for Max. rating (CW) --- MHz
Amplification Factor 4.5
Filament/Cathode Thoriated Tungsten
Voltage: 12.0 Volts
Current: 660 Amps
Capacitance Grounded Cathode
Input: 770 pf
Output: 122 pf
Feedthrough: 4.0 pf
Cooling: Water and Forced Air
Base: Special
Air Socket ---
Air Chimney ---
Boiler ---
Length: 28.8 in; 73.15 cm
Diameter: 12.0 in; 30.48 cm
Weight: 98 lb; 44.5 kg
The saddest thing is that LAMM will probably get it. How people with so little common sense as to fall for a scam like this can accumulate enough $$$$ to afford it is a bigger mystery than the trinity.
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.
- Home
- Amplifiers
- Tubes / Valves
- LAMM ML3 *Signature*