Modwright LS 99

ModWright LS 99 Balanced Tube Preamplifier

Reference Lineage. Refined Into Something You'll Actually Live With.

ModWright didn't design the LS 99 by working up from a budget. They designed it by working down from the top — taking the topology, the transformer architecture, and the core circuit philosophy of the LS 300 Reference flagship and asking what could be simplified without surrendering what matters.

The answer, in Dan Wright's own words: 95% of the sonics at nearly $5,000 less. That's not marketing language. It's a candid acknowledgment from the designer that the LS 99 competes in the same conversation as his reference product — and that he's quite pleased with the result.

We are too. The LS 99 is the kind of piece that makes you reconsider what a preamplifier at this price is supposed to sound like.

The Design — What the LS 300 Gave It

The LS 99 shares the LS 300's transformer coupled input and output topology — a design choice that shapes the character of the amplification more than almost anything else in the signal path. Transformers at both the input and output stage mean the LS 99 doesn't behave like a typical tube preamp. The coupling is tighter, the noise floor is lower, and the sound has the kind of dimensional stability that's difficult to achieve with capacitor-coupled designs.

Tube rectification — via a 5AR4/GZ34 — feeds a solid-state regulated power supply. It's a hybrid approach that combines the natural current delivery of tube rectification with the precision and consistency of solid-state regulation. The result is a power supply that's both musically natural and electrically controlled: the best of both architectures working in their respective areas of strength.

Two 6922 driver tubes handle the signal. The 6922 — and its equivalents, the 6DJ8, 7308, and E88CC — is one of the most celebrated small-signal tubes in audio, with a wide variety of well-regarded production options and a long history in high-end preamp design. It's an ideal choice for a design prioritizing resolution and tonal accuracy, and it's a tube with a robust market of NOS and current-production alternatives for those who enjoy the rolling process.

The power supply is outboard — housed in a separate chassis connected via a 4-foot umbilical with Switchcraft 8-pin connectors — but unlike the LS 300, it is not dual mono. That's the primary architectural concession the LS 99 makes relative to the flagship, and it's the honest explanation for most of the price difference. The core circuit remains fully faithful to the reference design.

The Listening Experience

Transformer-coupled tube preamps have a recognisable quality when they're done well: a stability of image, a naturalness of timbre, and a sense of three-dimensional space around instruments that capacitor-coupled designs rarely match. The LS 99 has all of that, and it has it with a noise floor — -110dB unweighted — that gives the quietest passages in a recording room to breathe.

The 11dB of gain is measured and appropriate for most amplifier pairings. The 100-ohm output impedance is low enough to drive virtually any power amplifier without interaction. The frequency response — 20Hz to 150kHz, flat — means the LS 99 is not doing anything to the music at the frequency extremes. What you hear is what the recording contains.

Pure Class A operation throughout. No switching, no compromise in the output stage.

Connectivity and Control

The LS 99 is fully equipped for balanced and unbalanced systems alike.

• 2× XLR fully balanced inputs
• 3× RCA inputs
• 1× RCA Home Theater Bypass input
• 2× XLR fully balanced outputs
• 2× RCA outputs
• Dual remote 12V trigger outputs
• Remote control: volume, mute, and trigger outputs

The Home Theater Bypass input allows the LS 99 to be integrated into a home theater system without disrupting the two-channel signal path — a thoughtful inclusion that reflects how real systems are actually used.

Where the LS 99 Fits

The LS 99 is the natural preamplifier for a ModWright-based system, and it pairs with equal authority in broader contexts. Pair it with the KWA 99 Monoblocks for a complete ModWright balanced stack. Add the PH 9.0XT phono stage and the Analog Bridge for a full analog front end that benefits from consistent design philosophy throughout.

It is also a compelling standalone upgrade in systems where the preamp has been the limiting factor — where amplification and sources are strong, but the center of the system hasn't kept up. The LS 99's output impedance, gain structure, and noise floor are well-suited to a wide range of pairings.

Press Recognition

Twittering Machines — June 2024 Michael Lavorgna reviewed the LS 99 alongside the KWA 99 Monoblocks as a complete ModWright balanced stack. Read the review

Specifications

Questions about how the LS 99 fits into your system, or how it compares to the LS 300? We're happy to help you think it through.