Linear Tube Audio, Daedalus, Lampizator, WyWires | CAF 2021

Nicholas Tolson of Linear Tube Audio (LTA) gave us a tour of the system, I get to enjoy my favourite Daedalus speaker, Lampizator does that cool tube vibe thing, WyWires pulls all the strings.

The Story

It’s sunday afternoon and I’ve heard it all. I’ve heard everything. I’ve even heard enough. I’m getting old and tired. So I decide to consult with Dave McNair on the issue of feeling old while he shadows me for a few extended listens to round out the closing day. As I begin to kvetch about this pain and that ache, it becomes clear that Dave and his timeless self is not relating to my ills one bit. Hold on to that feeling I’m having while I give you the next bit of info, for proper lay of the land.

We enter the fifth floor room and are greeted by a familiar face, it’s Nicolas Tolson of LTA at the helm, and I remark — “Those are my favourite Daedalus speakers.” To which Tolson replies, “Those are my personal speakers, preamplifier, and amplifier.”

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His and my favourite Daedalus speaker is the rather compact (in Daedalus terms) floorstanding Muse/Studio. A three-way speaker, standing 38-inches tall, presenting a 6-Ohm load and 95.5 dB of sensitivity at 1w/1m. This speaker is considered by Lou Hinkley of Daedalus to be a near/mid-field reference monitor. Surprising for its size in the near-field, but I’ll go along.

Juicing these floorstanders is an LTA Ultralinear+ Power Amplifier that does this cool thing which I’ll save for the sound portion of this report. Continuing up the system not just an LTA microZOTL Preamplifier, but a Level 2 one at that. Level 2 elevates the circuitry to reference level.

Source duties are handled by Lampizator with their Baltic 3 DAC (a most popular model of theirs), and the famed Super Komputer music server. I’ve always loved that name, “Komputer.”

The Sound

So, I’m feeling old and spent. The chair behind Dave who has settled in for spirited listening is less than ideal comfort, but I’m guessing that’s what you want at an audio show — turnover. The music begins, not sure what it is — something Dave or Tolson picked out.

What I hear of the 20 wpc LTA is this meaty electric clarity. And I do mean the clean type of clarity. The slight toe-in that is built into the Muse/Studio do well to zero in on my attention, the junction of drivers is point source, and I’m at ease enough to enjoy that luscious tube flavour and space doled out by the Lampizator DAC and server.

Tolson knows this system well, as he should since he works for LTA and this is his personal system. I asked who placed the speakers, was it Lou or Nicholas? The answer is both.

Was this lingering listening experience with Dave and Tolson an equivalent to a Shiatsu rub-down? Well, yeah. It was.

A really great room for a budding geezer like me.