Greetings friends, I hope you are well! 🙂

The FedEx driver dropped off an audio treasure here at my place today in the form of the Leben CS-300XO EL84 integrated amplifier, a new model in the Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company's integrated amplifier product line. 

I'm pinching myself in anticipation today, as I have a particular fondness for EL84 vacuum tube integrated amplifiers, and the "hugs & kisses" "XO" designation of the new Leben CS-300XO suggests some very pleasurable music listening experiences are coming our way as music lovers. 

Ok, maybe the "XO" means something else in Leben's product line nomenclature, but I choose to interpret it as musical "hugs & kisses." Why not? 

Notice the venting in the top-cover. Those vacuum tubes can get plenty warm, so be sure to install yours where it has plenty of breathing room. 

I'm tempted to say, "It's hot baby, hot!" but I'll refrain. Fits well with the hugs & kisses branding though, I'd say. 😉

This amplifier has quite a story behind it, which I'll share with you in due time, but suffice it to say this is one sweetheart of an integrated amplifier. 

The fit and finish is gorgeous, as one expects from Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company products.

The CS-300XO's gold finished front and back panels, the walnut side cheeks, the green highlights, all add up to one classy looking integrated amplifier that makes me feel good just looking at it.

It feels heavy. Really it is only 11kg, a touch under 25 pounds, but it feels heavier than that in my hands. This CS-300XO is one substantial and solidly built amplifier. 

There's a pair of Sovtek 12AX7WA inputs/drivers, and a quad of JJ EL84s in push-pull providing 15 watts of output power. Frequency response is 15Hz to 100KHz (-2dB).

Did I mention the CS-300XO has paper-in-oil coupling capacitors? It does. Cool. A nice touch. 

On the back panel you can see the impedance switch in the center that offers 4/6/8 Ohm settings  to meet the needs of a variety of loudspeakers.

I've found that the 8 Ohm setting works very well for my collection of 16 Ohm vintage Altec loudspeakers too, so you're covered for just about any loudspeaker load you want to try. 

You can see 6 sets of inputs for all your source components on the right side, so you should be covered for just about anything you want to use as a source component.

Naturally, the ideal source component match for us vinyl lovers is a Leben RS-30EQ phono preamplifier, plus Leben CS-60T step-up transformer for moving-coil phonograph cartridges. 

I'll be telling you about the CS-300XO, RS-3oEQ, and CS-60T SUT combination in future articles. 

On the left you can see the input selector switch, then the volume control, the balance control, and the bass boost switch.

In the bottom row you can see the tape monitor switch on the left, the headphone input in the middle, and the switch to select either headphones or loudspeakers on the right. On the far right is the AC switch. 

I'm not really a headphones sort of guy, but reports from the field say the headphone circuit in Leben integrated amp has exceptional sound quality, so keep that in mind. 

Production is just starting for the CS-300XO model, so you might want to check with your friendly Leben Hi-Fi Stereo Company retailer about getting on the list to buy one when they become more readily available. 

The A Motion Sound inscription you can see on the left of the front panel (above), is about Mr. Taku Hyodo's and his father's love for films and the film industry, where "motion sound" is referring to the "motion sound" of "motion pictures." Get it? I think it's cool. 

So in their honor I'm installing the CS-300XO first into my vintage Altec The Voice of the Theatre A5 loudspeakers based audio-visual system to accumulate some run-in time. 

By the way, to the left of the CS-300XO on the equipment rack you can see my Leben CS-600, which is the integrated amplifier that I've owned longer than any other. For 20 years now the CS-600 has been reliably delivering joy in my audio life.  

I'll report back on some initial listening impressions after I get some run-in time on the CS-300XO. 

I plan on rotating the Leben CS-300XO through all four of my audio systems, so there will be lots more to come!

As I get going with the CS-300XO I'll pop the bonnet off and show you its interior in detail. 

Before I forget, the price for the Leben CS-300XO in the US is $5995.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!