MFG'D: '00, last production run
PURCHASED: '02, Audiogon, barely-used dealer demo.
PROBLEMS: None, has worked perfectly for 22 years of regular use of all functions. But despite factory updates, it remains sensitive to cold-weather static electricity shutting down the digital control stage.
PAID: $1350 with dealer and 5yr factory warranty, $399 factory-installed 'Special Edition' upgrade tweaked to my spec. ($3500 MSRP 2001)
REPLACED: modified Advent 300 receiver, Adcom GFP-710
TWEAKS:
VampireWire XLR-RCA adapters;
(4) Vibrapod-Vibracone pairs between preamp and power amp;
Current mix of Tungsram Yellow 7DJ8 (V1), new-build JJ Teslas cryo'd and matched by Tube Depot (V2), and late-'60s Telefunken 7DJ8 (V3) mix of 6922 tube types have replaced previous combinations with satisfying results;
Mono switch converted to 'true mono' rather than their as-delivered 8dB 'blend';
SE upgrade (minus their Kimber Silver Streak internal wiring 'upgrade') a notable step up in clarity and air -- all resistors and caps in the signal path (and tube sockets) upgraded to the best they could find, at least in 2000;
BurrBrown PGA-2311 volume control chips, drop-in replacements to the 20-year-old Crystal CS3310;
Pearl tube coolers make my tubes immortal!;
Kimber PK10 AC Power Cord;
HiFiTuning line fuse
2022: Full factory refurbish and upgraded to an "SE+" = all the improvements they've learned in 20+ years of optimizing these units that last forever. Power supply recapped, Cree Schottky diodes, new power transformer and some power resistors and voltage regulators, modified the volume control and DC servo passive parts, highest-end V2-V3 interstage coupling caps, pure silver internal signal wiring between PCBs, cleaned and fully tested to spec and comparative listening.
+:
Incredible build and parts quality for the price, solid at any price;
The best sonic attributes of transistors (speed, detail and clean extension at the frequency extremes) and tubes (harmonic integrity, buttery smoothness and image density and dimensionality), even today (2023);
Great attention to details;
Great flexibility, nice remote and control layouts, plenty of inputs and outputs that I use all of;
thoughtful circuit design and execution;
Handsome appearance that avoids pretentious High End 'styling';
SSP input ('Surround Sound Processor') ideal for A/Bing preamps by remote control: unlike many preamps, engaging SSP routes the dedicated SSP source directly to the preamp outputs, one relay and a PCB trace is all the circuitry involved, also inputs to the headphone amp; this is useful to raise input impedance from the lowish 10.5kohm of Line 1 to the 100k of my power amp: my Nakamichi DR-1 (with its volume control) cannot drive 10k easily but comes to life into 100k.
Fair dedicated opamp-based fixed-crossfeed headphone amp follows the entire preamp tube section. It sounds decent, but lacks power and dynamics with less efficient headphones, and resolution vs today's good dedicated headphone amps, but is useful for quick monitoring off the preamp itself. It's a far better balanced line preamp than a headphone amp!
New replacement volume control ICs nearly as much a sonic improvement as the entire SE upgrade!
-:
This topology sounds substantially better with true balanced sources. Unfortunately all my sources are SE. SE doesn't sound 'bad' but once I've heard how it sounds balanced, it's difficult to unremember hearing it balanced. Luckily, the two 'weakest' components currently are my DAC and phono stage that would sound best balanced. Eventual replacements will certainly be balanced, and substantially better than the already very-good pieces. But those will cost big bucks and require more auditioning than I have time for now.
Four preamp outputs are flexibility or overkill - I could really use a 2nd buffered tape output;
The optical-encoder-type volume control is too sensitive -- it would seem easy to re-program to double or triple the number of rotations of the volume knob to cover the same min-to-max range.
Despite ECOs to address it, the unit remains very sensitive to static electricity from finger to front panel. Always ground yourself to something else before touching the preamp or prepare for a 42-second reboot cycle.
Another EPROM rev could make it functionally more flexible (user-set mute level, alter rate of volume control depending on knob speed, less balance control resolution at extremes, etc), but hey, this was SOTA preamp control for its 1997 intro date, as was the Levinson No. 38 that came out at the same time with very similar control functions.
This is the best preamp I could find in 2002 for design, flexibility and sound for my needs anywhere near this used price. BAT VK51, ML #380S, VTL 6.5 and others might fit my requirements but at a much higher price. Used Line 1&2 are a bargain. I was originally hoping to find the modern-day equivalent of the Apt Holman preamp, a full-function control preamp with solid build and innovative circuitry, full tape flexibility and tone controls. I got as far as an Adcom GFP-710 and a Tandberg 4000-series preamp before having to give up on the feature set I wanted so I could get the sonics I needed. 2023 has more options on the market that fit my needs, but Line1 has proved 100% reliable and sonically timeless.
COMPARED TO DIRECTLY:
2019: Plinius Kaitaki; Bryston BP26+MPS2; Luxman CL38u SE; Luxman C900u Ultimate. Soundly bested all of them except, surprisingly, the Plinius. And two other Line 1s.
Previously: Pass X2.5; '08 Benchmark DAC1Pre; Adcom GFP-710, GFP-750; VanAlstine Transcendence 7; Mcintosh C15; Creek OBH-12; Headroom '99 Maxed Out Home and '03 Max with '07 'Max' modules; NO preamp (ie an interconnect, and volume-controlled DACs and such direct to power amp);
