Elevator EXP

I recently bought an Elevator EXP, thanks to John Cadman for ringing to confirm my requirements. It arrived on Friday.

Before it arrived I built a "Y-lead" (see thread on this) so I could share one PSU1 between the EXP and Reflex M. I fitted this to the Reflex M one night last week so it had plenty of time to settle down after being disconnected.

The Elevator EXP was a little bright when I first listened to an LP, a couple of hours after I powered the amp up. Even so the sound was both clear and cohesive, really musical for want of a better word.

I am using a borrowed (soon to be bought!) Denon DL-103 and amazed how good a standard cartridge can sound through the various GSP items I own. It is a tribute to the GSP equipment that it lets the source sing and the music comes through.

The DL-103's recommended load is 1k so I had used the EXP's switches to get this loading before I connected the power. As I noted above this sounded great. Curiosity drove me to try some alternatives e.g. 840R (similar to 1k), 5k1 (a bit brighter), 100R (quieter and duller/less treble).

Although I have only just started playing LP's through the M and EXP I know I will be going through my music collection again! It is hard to mute the TV with the Ashes on screen. Even so I am enjoying the music I have heard, very enjoyable to listen to and room filling. The soundfield comes into the room around me on ambient/surround effects, deeper sounds are behind the speakers, and there's plenty of bass. I credit this wonderful sound to the decades of R&D that Graham Slee has put into these fine products, with innovations like his ultra linear op amp configurations.

I'm not a huge fan of specs on their own but the figures for this combo are impressive. For example the low noise levels, far far below the surface noise on any LP. The Elevator EXP and Reflex M have a combined gain of over 1500x and yet the noise and hum is pretty quiet even with my passive preamp's volume on full.

Great British hi-fi.

Edited by Fatmangolf - 13 Jul 2013 at 5:20pm

blew me away when I had one on loan it only gets better with time

And it is getting better every day.

Hi Jon,