F.Hutchins

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Private sale

Summary:
Purchased the Line2 used locally here in Vancouver B.C. This is my first tube pre-amp and have enjoyed it so far. I puchased this as a stock unit and was quite happy with the sound and feature set until I managed to damage it. Sent it to Parts Connexion (Chris Johnson former S.F. president) to be looked at and decided to have it upgraded to "SE+" version complete with new volume chips and related power supply upgrade. Not cheap, but well worth it. The difference is amazing to say the least. Overall improvements include: dynamics, low end depth and tighter bass, mid-range clarity to die for female voices (male as well) are so natural and unforced, great high freq extention no fatigue what so ever.
This is a gem of a pre-amp and will remain in my system for quite some time.

Associated equipment:
S.F. Line2 SE+ upgrade
Odyssey Audio - Extreme Mono SE+ (mono blocks)
Cary CD308 (CD player)
Sony 333ES (5 disc CD/SACD player)
Paradigm Studio Ref. 60V2 (full range floor stand speakers)
Paradigm Servo 15 (Sub woofer)

Strengths:
Darn good pre before the upgrade.
Great feature set.
Musical and easy to listen to.
Low volume listening is very good.
Loud is even better, never gets uncomfortable and I've had it way up the dial.
Mates very well with S.S. amp.
Inexpensive tube complement.
Easily serviced, many tweeks/upgrades available.

After upgrade:
Absolutely wonderfull in all respects.

Weaknesses:
May be a little bit noisey in regard to tube hiss but must be right up to the speaker to hear it.
Bottom 3rd of volume controll (stock or otherwise) yields no sound, must be above 30 points on digital V.C. to get sound.

Similar Products Used:
None that compare to this.

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Private sale

Summary:
Purchased the Line2 used locally here in Vancouver B.C. This is my first tube pre-amp and have enjoyed it so far. I puchased this as a stock unit and was quite happy with the sound and feature set until I managed to damage it. Sent it to Parts Connexion (Chris Johnson former S.F. president) to be looked at and decided to have it upgraded to "SE+" version complete with new volume chips and related power supply upgrade. Not cheap, but well worth it. The difference is amazing to say the least. Overall improvements include: dynamics, low end depth and tighter bass, mid-range clarity to die for female voices (male as well) are so natural and unforced, great high freq extention no fatigue what so ever.
This is a gem of a pre-amp and will remain in my system for quite some time.

Associated equipment:
S.F. Line2 SE+ upgrade
Odyssey Audio - Extreme Mono SE+ (mono blocks)
Cary CD308 (CD player)
Sony 333ES (5 disc CD/SACD player)
Paradigm Studio Ref. 60V2 (full range floor stand speakers)
Paradigm Servo 15 (Sub woofer)

Strengths:
Darn good pre before the upgrade.
Great feature set.
Musical and easy to listen to.
Low volume listening is very good.
Loud is even better, never gets uncomfortable and I've had it way up the dial.
Mates very well with S.S. amp.
Inexpensive tube complement.
Easily serviced, many tweeks/upgrades available.

After upgrade:
Absolutely wonderfull in all respects.

Weaknesses:
May be a little bit noisey in regard to tube hiss but must be right up to the speaker to hear it.
Bottom 3rd of volume controll (stock or otherwise) yields no sound, must be above 30 points on digital V.C. to get sound.

Similar Products Used:
None that compare to this.

paulwbranner

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Audiogon

Summary:
I'll make short and sweet.
This is a entry level pre-amp. Even though the price doesn't reflect that. Nice build quality. Handsome to look at and that's about it.
Very thin in dynamics and has no weight to the presentation. This is for the hobbyist just starting out on this journey. If for some reason you listen to ARC or CJ products. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!!! You will be pissed off. If you don't believe me, email me and I will give you the 411.

Strengths:
looks
natural sound

Weaknesses:
thin
no substance
too pricey

Similar Products Used:
Krell
CJ
ARC
Linn
Joule

pangl

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Audiogon.com

Summary:
The power supply's transformer smoked by itself for no reason after a month of use, and toasted numerous parts in the main unit. 4 weeks of downtime, $350 bill, shipping to Canada. What a disaster. Of all 40+ preamps I owned, only 3 ever choked on me. My 1st LINE 3 (also my very first preamp) was an refurb sham from Kevin Deal @ Upscale Audio - even I paid full price - and went thru 3 weeks of hell to get an working unit. The 2nd was Krell PMA3 (I think, the dual mono one with dual external power supplies) - it was an DOA from an dishonest eBay seller. The 3rd one is this Line 2. DOn't expect the sweet sound from this 6922 based tube preamp. I think $1500 is way overpriced. Go with Audio Research. You can't go wrong.

Strengths:
I wish I still have any positive thing to say.

Weaknesses:
Blown up on me for no reason. Nuff said.

Similar Products Used:
Sonic Frontiers LINE 3; SFL-1; Krell ??MA3; Mark Levinson ML23; McIntosh C26/C20/MX110; Counterpoint SA5000; VTL 2.5; Classe CP60; ..... too many to remember (just like I don't recall where my $$$$ went in this hobby)

jonathanlee

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $3000.00

Summary:
Unreliable piece of junk!!! The unit could not get out of the "mute" mode 75% of the time. It has been serviced twice by Sonic Frontier. Unfortunatelly, the people AT SF are clueless!!!

Strengths:
Beautiful sound when it works

Weaknesses:
comatose for the most part

Similar Products Used:
Krell KBL