I got to hear a pair of RCA LC-1As this week
mhardy6647
Posts: 33,801
I visited one of the area vacuum tube hifi gurus at his new digs in the deep suburbs of Boston on Monday afternoon.
His new home, originally built in the very early 20th Century, has a very (very) large central living room with yellow pine flooring and cedar beams and paneling. A grand, alive acoustic space. In that room, he has a hifi set up that includes a gorgeous pair of RCA LC-1A monitor coaxes in naturally finished maple "refrigerator" enclosures. These are usually seen painted or (sometimes) in walnut; but these are maple. I don't know what he was using for power amplification, but I noticed an Audio Note preamp. The source was a Garrard 301 (of very low serial number) with (maybe...?) a Thomas Schick arm and an Ortofon SPU family member (no idea which one, though). For a phono preamp, a GAS Thoebe I teased him about that (he's mostly a tube kinda guy); he said, "Hey, it's got a great sounding phono preamp!" (which it does)
We listened to the MoFi 45 rpm version of Muddy Waters' Folksinger on the LC-1As.
Now, I have heard these before, but this was my first real opportunity to listen to them.
And they are incredible. Clean and snappy; dynamic and tonally just so right.
Absolutely amazing loudspeakers.
You could absolutely imagine Elvis sounding like Elvis on them (although, due to time constraints, I didn't actually listen to any Elvis on 'em).
Sorry, no photos of the ones I heard Monday
His new home, originally built in the very early 20th Century, has a very (very) large central living room with yellow pine flooring and cedar beams and paneling. A grand, alive acoustic space. In that room, he has a hifi set up that includes a gorgeous pair of RCA LC-1A monitor coaxes in naturally finished maple "refrigerator" enclosures. These are usually seen painted or (sometimes) in walnut; but these are maple. I don't know what he was using for power amplification, but I noticed an Audio Note preamp. The source was a Garrard 301 (of very low serial number) with (maybe...?) a Thomas Schick arm and an Ortofon SPU family member (no idea which one, though). For a phono preamp, a GAS Thoebe I teased him about that (he's mostly a tube kinda guy); he said, "Hey, it's got a great sounding phono preamp!" (which it does)
We listened to the MoFi 45 rpm version of Muddy Waters' Folksinger on the LC-1As.
Now, I have heard these before, but this was my first real opportunity to listen to them.
And they are incredible. Clean and snappy; dynamic and tonally just so right.
Absolutely amazing loudspeakers.
You could absolutely imagine Elvis sounding like Elvis on them (although, due to time constraints, I didn't actually listen to any Elvis on 'em).
Sorry, no photos of the ones I heard Monday
Comments
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Hearing those I'm sure was a delight for you. Sounds like a great room too. Here's a link with photos of a pair that sold three years ago. Kind of a sad story. Down of his luck, had to reluctantly part with them. Seen it happen here too. http://www.audioasylumtrader.com/ca/listing/Speakers-Hi-Eff/RCA/LC-1/Museum-Quality-LC-1-and-LC-1A-in-Orig.-RCA-Cabinets/106184
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Those look sweeeeeeeeet!
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They measured up to their reputation, based on my audition on Monday
https://www.stereophile.com/content/listening-116-page-2 -
Super cool! Would love to get my ears on a pair of these with nice tube power!Just a dude doing dude-ly things
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