In this months blog from sunny Cardiff, Matt takes a look at the story of a Welsh Hi-Fi company and goes on to review the Tucana ll Anniversary integrated amplifier as well as discuss our planned store event on September 15th and 16th with Leema Acoustics at Audio T Cardiff. So without further ado…

Leema Tucana II anniversary in its natural habitat

The Hi-Fi industry has many groundbreaking product releases from manufacturers that tends to turn heads, and Leema Acoustics has certainly done just that over the years since the birth of the company in 1998. They are definitely not showing any sign of slowing, continuing to come up with innovating ideas that are sleek looking and well designed boxes in your Hi-Fi rack. In my humble opinion, they’re in the business of creating tone monsters capable of giving massive sound stages and superb timing. This presentation is delivered perfectly with the Leema Tucana and in particular the Tucana II Anniversary model springs to mind. I myself have come to rely on this amplifier, it never disappoints and no matter what I plug into this amp everything sounds right to my ears.

So, I thought it was high time to take this wonderful opportunity to take the Tucana II Anniversary home and really get to know it. In my own space with plenty of time over a weekend I could really put this amplifier through its paces and hear what makes this beast tick. I have put this amplifier in the forever category along with Spendor D7.2s (by the way to me this is the perfect combination that one day I will end up with… I hope). Before I start down the road of talking your ears off about my favourite amplifier and why I call it the “God of Thunder” let’s take a little dive into Leema’s history and what they are all about by exploring some of their current range.

A little Leema history

Founding member lee taylor - the “lee” in leema

Leema was originally founded in 1998 by two ex-BBC engineers, Lee Taylor and Mallory Nicholls. Both had and still have a fanatical interest in audio reproduction. Their first project focussed on pushing the boundaries of loudspeaker design and their idea was to create a miniature loudspeaker capable of outperforming speakers many times its size. After many years of intense research and testing they came up with the Xen micro monitor which they claim, became unsurpassed in technical and musical excellence. Xen was originally only available to the professional market and was found in many studios. It wasn’t long before audiophiles began to take notice of these speakers due to their build quality and sound presentation. By this time Leema was starting to take hold in the Hi-Fi industry, so Mallory and Lee decided to turn their expertise to audio electronics. Their first project was the original incarnation of the award winning Tucana integrated amplifier, which was released in early 2006. Shortly afterwards they came up with the Antila CD player which won the Sound and Vision Award in 2007.

Since then, the Leema portfolio has grown exponentially joining forces with Davtec who have had a long history in manufacturing electronics, established in 1983. I know this might sound a little strange but, just to show how diverse they are, Davtec also design and manufacture a whole host of other things from traffic lights to milking machines. Now in partnership with Davtec, Leema has well and truly spread its wings.

Moving forward, they came up with other great amplification such as the Pyxis preamp, which I had the pleasure of installing in a customer’s system recently. Teamed with a pair of Cyrus Mono X 300 Signature amplifiers and Spendor D9.2s. I have never heard a sound stage like it and a lot of that character is injected by the Leema Pyxis preamplifier.

The Pyxis would normally be partnered with the Hydra power amplifier to make a pretty unstoppable combination. Leema have also introduced phono stages to their range,such as the Agena, as well as standalone digital to analogue converters like the Libra.

lips link back panel tucana II anniversary

Leema have now added a more focused approach to affordable options for Hi-Fi in the form of the Elements range. To my ears I think the Elements amplifier has borrowed some of the Tucana’s soul. Also in that range you’ll find a great CD player, streamer and phono stage that works in perfect harmony with Leema’s LIPS technology (Leema Intelligent Protocol System) which enables each part of the system to talk to one another. LIPS is also featured on other products such as the Pyxis and Tucana ll. You’ll be as glad as we are to hear that there are more toys on the horizon from Leema, the all new Quantum pre-amplifier and power amplifier.

As promised let’s talk Tucana ll Anniversary

The award winning Tucana burst into life in 2006 and is still winning awards today. Moving on 10 years, Leema celebrated the anniversary of this truly masterful piece of kit and its unparalleled audio quality by introducing the Tucana II Anniversary. Within the existing premium chassis of this class AB amplifier lies quite a few worthwhile upgrades. Leema revisited those key areas within the circuitry that matters the most when defining the character and delivery of the amps already immersive soundstage. The upgrades go beyond the badge on the front, the printed circuit boards are upgraded with double weight copper, further reducing the resistance of PCB traces and improving the power delivery. All relevant capacitors have been upgraded to Nicholson high quality grade MUSE series. PCB to speaker terminal wiring is now Leema’s Reference 2 speaker cable, that’s 16 woven cores, multi high strand high purity copper with individual silver plating. These are just some of the upgrades this amplifier has gone through, not to mention the cool remote control…

Leema acoustics tucana ii anniversary remote control

Let the listening begin…

Working for Audio T, I feel blessed to be able to take such an amplifier home with me to put through its paces in my natural habitat. The source being vinyl played from a Rega Planar 6 fitted with Ortofon 2M Black cartridge and stylus via Nytech Audio CDP122 phono stage and the Acoustic Energy AE300 speakers.

Over a weekend I swapped out my Rega Elex-R amplifier for the Tucana ll Anniversary and trust me, I was full of excitement. I know how this amplifier sounds in our shop demo room but listening in the home environment is a different experience. Starting with this amplifiers character, some say it’s forward and some have commented that it can be too neutral whereas I say it’s more than that. The sound stage envelops you and draws you in. The listening experience never became tiring even with its high detailed delivery. This amplifier has the ability to control most speakers big and small that I’ve thrown at it, including my Acoustic Energy AE300s, they sound like a speaker 4 times the price when coupled with the Tucana II Anniversary. Spending time alone with this amplifier has given me the chance to explore the amplifier’s functions. Starting with the core of this amp it is class AB and you may already know that I’m a big fan of class AB amplifiers. Leema have managed to deliver a sound that takes class AB amplification to another level, it’s big open sound and perfect timing kept me engaged throughout the listening experience. Moving onto the controls this amp’s simple design allows me to adjust everything at ease, the volume control is well lit on front panel and shows where you are with full and half steps. The amp also has a very easy to use gain control allowing the user to set every input to an equal level so there’s no sudden jumps in volume, for instance when switching from a CD player to a turntable.

Test Tracks and albums used

Steve Vai - Inviolate (2022) - Track used:
“Teeth of the Hydra”
Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam (2002) - Track used:
“Army Reserve”
Pink Floyd - Momentary laps in reason (1987) - Track used:
“Learning to fly”

Starting with Mr Vai and “Teeth of the Hydra”. On this track Steve Vai commissioned Ibanez to make a multi strung/multi neck guitar. This was a 7 string and 12 string guitar, fretless bass and even a harp configuration of all things. This track has a lot going on and the Tucana held everything together perfectly. The finer details of this instrumental track creates a massive sound stage, Vai’s guitar and the percussion fills the room. Tracks like this one is why I call this amplifier the “God of Thunder”, power with perfect control. Moving onto Pearl Jam’s “Army Reserve”. Again the Tucana brings out detail on vinyl I haven’t heard before, such as Eddie Vedder’s voice you can hear him breathe on the microphone and Jeff Ament’s solid bass groove on this track had more clarity and superb timing. Now last but not least Pink Floyd “Learning to Fly”. Right from the start of the song the Tucana makes me feel like I’m at a concert. Dave Gilmour’s guitar and the rest of the band playing on this track again fill the room with tone, detail and great timing.

In summary

As you can tell, I hold this amplifier in very high regard and as I said before this amplifier is in the forever class as it holds everything I would ever want in an integrated amplifier. From its class AB nature to its ability to work with many source components whether it is vinyl, streaming or CD.

This September you will have the chance to listen for yourself and tell us what you think of the Tucana and other amplifiers in Leema’s line-up including a first look at the new Quantum pre-amplifier and power amplifier. We have setup a two day event at Audio T Cardiff so put the dates in your diary, Thursday 15th September and Friday 16th September. A representative from Leema Acoustics will be on hand conducting timed demonstrations from early afternoon to early evening with a brief look at the history of Leema Acoustics and where they are heading in the future.

If you would like to attend this event contact us on 02920 228565 or Email us at cardiff@audio-t.co.uk we look forward to seeing you there.

Thank you for reading

Matt, Nick and Kerrin - Audio T Cardiff

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