Let's see those Luxman!

Yes the Luxman meter amps are very good looking. For aesthetics and point of interest the meters hit the right notes (haha). Kinda like watching a fire, or the ocean.

This L595 is very attractive compared to many other integrated amps.

It does not have the interest of the meters. But thinking about it most other integrated and power amps do not have meters. So it unfortunately puts this Luxman in that group.

I will say so far I have been enjoying the sound produced. With maybe 30 hours use it is indeed coming along nicely. I have been adjusting the subwoofers and it’s all pretty seamless now.

The L590axII is a great amplifier. And a real looker.

The L595a does create sound for the better in my system. Enough that I’ll have to settle for now without the light show

 

D-07X spotted on eBay Japan.

LUXMAN D-07X SACD/CD player Super Audio CD PLAYER MQA-CD compatible AC100V | eBay

Still no idea of Luxman's official pricing for non-Japan customers, but if they're $9,700 on eBay you'd think it'll be over $10k. Which is disappointing as I was hoping for something like 6-8k.

 

Is there a big difference in sound quality between the L590 and the L595?

 

How are Luxman amplifiers on rock music in general may l ask?


Just curious.

 

splendid. especially the modern solid states.

 

The dealer told me £6-8k for the D-07x in the UK a couple of days ago. No idea about delivery dates though.

 

New cabinet/setup looks awesome bud

 

Nice setup. Bit more information about that TT lamp please. Been looking for one just like that. Thanks.

 

It's nice
Flexible
3 colors of light
3 intensities each
Comes in black and white

 

Just a footnote that there’s no such thing as eBay Japan. You mean a Japanese seller on eBay.

And pre-owned, they should be in the 6-8K range. As soon as the country opens, I’m there and will bring home a Luxman SACD of some flavour.

 

It’s an updated version of an amp they offered twenty and thirty years ago…aesthetically quite similar.

 

The L595 has about 60 hours on, and I have just recently got my TT up and running again through the internal phono stage. The speakers are custom GPA 604 with a pair of dual 8" L and R subs and a single 12" Rythmik GR sub for the center. The dual 8" subs are line driven separate L and R from pre out and set to crossover a bit on the higher side at around 90-95 Hz. The volume is fairly low on both of these. The center 12" sub gets both L and R and is set to crossover around 50 Hz and volume is set similar, relative to the L and R subs.

This seems to fill in nicely for the 604 roll-off and the room character without intruding anywhere. The 8" subs do supply some of the kick in a kick drum, but the 12" doesn't touch up that far.

The source most used is a Marantz KI Ruby sacd into line 1 on the 595. I quite like this Marantz. For cd playback it's very very good. I still believe analog from a good TT and cartridge sounds 'better'.

TT seems to hold sonic interest better than cd, for want of a description. But the Marantz is the best cd playback I've had so far, and does very well in that regard.

The internal dac of the Marantz will sometimes feed from an Audio Engine for bluetooth streaming from the iPhone of Pandora mostly. Sounds OK for parties or cleaning house, but not critical listening

There is also a Sony 5400 sacd that is feeding a Black Ice Foz then into line 2 on the L595. The Foz is good for adjusting some irregularities. It has an 'expander' that allows to widen or narrow the stereo effect. I find most often I'll use it on the few cd's that have very L and R channel split. It's a peeve of mine to hear all guitar from one speaker and all drum from the other. So un natural. Setting the Foz to a narrow setting works wonders. It also has a single 12au7 tube and can soften some harsher character found in some (especially some older) cd's. On top of that it has a bass enhancement. I don't use that much, but if the cd is an older recording and needs help in that area I may kick it up too.

I am able to comment on the comparison to a Yamaha AS-2100 and the L590.

The Luxman L590axII bested the Yamaha AS-2100 in my system with an overall more dynamic and live like character. The Yamaha had a slightly lower noise floor, but was less exciting through my system. The Yamaha did everything pretty well. It's bass was better managed somehow and the placement of instruments was solid, but the Luxman L590 eclipsed it in several ways that were important at the time so the Yamaha was supplanted by the L590.

I have not installed the L590 back into the system as the L595 is in place and ( running in with about 60 hours on line 1 and 4-5 hours on MC ) and it's a bit of work to make the change. I may at some point for reference... My impression is the L595 manages the bass more like the Yamaha which is a plus.

The noise floor is lower than either the Yam or the 590. The 604 is around 100 dB sensitivity and I get next to no sound, hiss or hum with the 595 at a typical volume level of -51 dB on the volume control with no input running. At full volume it is still very close to dead quiet, which is much quieter than the 590 or Yam

Both the L590 and the L595 have so much headroom in this system it's most ideal.

The sense of life is strong with the dynamic character of the 590 and then some. I noticed in the switch I needed to dial the volume of the subs a little lower but the crossover point on the L and R subs went a little higher.

It seems also the L590 would more often like just a little adjustment in the bass and treble pots for a typical balance in my system and room, but the 595 is set to line straight and is just perfect. Not sure why. Slightly different voicing I guess.

Something that has not changed is the use of Loudness control. I know many might use the Loudness at low volumes to enhance the bass Fletcher Munson curve. haha, The 604 high efficiency reverses that. I will have everything set to line straight and the subs dialed in for all listening up to maybe 75dB. This is fairly loud and where most seated listening volume tends , or less depending. (just a guess of dB; for reference it's -51 on the 595 volume, or about 9:00 on the dial)

As the volume exceeds this -51 range, the subs begin to not keep up with the 604. The 604 gets much louder, but the subs need a further boost to make the jump to higher volume as they are not getting that much more input from the preamp out. So the Loudness may be used. or not depending on the source, music and how much boogie is needed. It seems a little jahooty but in practice works well. I suspect the Loudness contour backs off some at higher volumes in the 595, but the overlap works well as in no case do I turn the level up past about 10:30 with these 604 speakers. There is a set of 'B' speakers that are seldom used. They are much less efficient and thus have seen over the 10:00 volume level. The subs need to be turned off then for level matching reasons and it's just too much pita.

From the next room and around the house with the system turned up there is a very solid live character, balance, and bounce factor. From the sweet spot the 595 and 590 are really cut from similar cloth, but the 595 is an upgrade I am pleased to have and intend to keep. I guess the only wish I might have would be it had those gorgeous L590 meters and fascia.

Cheers,
RW

 

so i urban dictionaried that

 

ick. no not jahooty.

haha, apparently it's jahootie, not jahooty.

an Old Dead Guy I used to work with used it as- jahootieshitt. It means substandard poor design/workmanship in his estimation. He was usually right

 

RW a Dead Guy is very Old indeed.

 

Just a heads up if anyone is interested in the Luxman E-250 phono preamp, there is one listed today on hifido for around $740, of course it's the 100V Japan unit but pretty nice piece of gear for that price ...

 

Nissyo Industry TP-811 Voltage Converter In: AC110V-AC130V Out:AC100V 110W Japan 4956234002913 | eBay

 

Yea, I have one of the Chinese VCT VT-200J units, 200W, works well for the couple JPN pieces I power it with, kind of a mini-isolation transformer. Mine is silent, but don't know if they all are.

BTW, probably should mention, while that used E-250 price is good, and they may drop it a bit if it doesn't sell right away, you can also buy a new one from Japan for around $1150 with free shipping, so keep that in mind, hifido will tack on another $100 or so for EMS shipping.

 

I've gone this route before and sourced my E250 from jp and use it via a mini transformer - works perfectly and it has such a low noise floor as well as having loading options for MM carts.

 

Are there gain options for MM? If not, I'm guessing the gain is around 34db. That's a heck of a deal compared to the US price.

 

Yea, it is really a nice unit, and very reasonably priced from Japan. Shame it gets so expensive via North American sources, kind of knocks it out of the conversation a bit. I generally prefer the sound of fully discrete designs with no feedback, but Luxman does make some nice sounding gear, even with their mix of discrete transistors and opamps and feedback equalization. Just well thought out and executed designs...

 

The MM gain is fixed at 38dB, then an extra 19dB or 28dB for MC high or low taps on the transformers. It is somewhat unique in offering four input impedance selections from 34k to 100k, and multiple capacitance selections too, so pretty easy to tailor it to different MM cartridges. Very good overload margins too.

 

Saw davey give a better reply than i can so ill just comment that this e250 is such nice sounding for the jp prices. Nothing seems emphisized but it all sounds very coherent, balanced and detailed without fatiguing. I've ran a vm95ml and mp150,200 and now 500 through it.

 

Yea, the JPN prices are really low now with the exchange rate, they are selling new in Japan for around 122,000Y, which is under $850 at current rates. Add a buying fee and shipping, could probably get one new from Japan for under $1000 now, versus around $1150 or so from ebay... or $2395 from Music Direct