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Luxman/Accuphase/Yamaha - Quality?

Congratulations Tony! welcome to the Accuphase pre/power club
Quite a step up from the E560.
As a matter of interest, which speakers have you been trying?
Mac
Hi Mac. I was wondering when someone was going to ask! Kudos Titan 808s. No issues with them re. positioning, & I was really expecting to like them. Oh well, it just confirmed to me how well the trusty old DBLs suit my ears & system.
 
Hi Mac. I was wondering when someone was going to ask! Kudos Titan 808s. No issues with them re. positioning, & I was really expecting to like them. Oh well, it just confirmed to me how well the trusty old DBLs suit my ears & system.

You can always rely on me, nosey old thing that I am.
If you do ever get the itch again to change your speakers, perhaps try Harbeth... I've only ever used them with my Accuphase kit over the years, from SHL5, SHL5+, SHL5+ annies and now 40.3 XD and they've all worked beautifully with both intigrated and pre/power and not always in ideal shaped listening rooms.
Mac
 
Nah, not interested in trying any more speakers - I've been listening to the damn things, all shapes, sizes and prices, for over fifty years & it's a relief to settle on one. The DBLs will see me out (SWMBO’s determined to bury me in one, hopefully when I'm actually dead).
 
The box it comes in is a two-person lift. There is a cleverly positioned rail on each side of the heatsinks to aid in manoeuvring it into place. Much nicer looking, and easier to use than the butch handles in front of some American-styled muscle amps.

As far as I know the handles on the fronts of American amps are there solely for the pretense that the amp may be mounted in a relay rack.

There are some huge amps with "rack mount" panels that I doubt could support the weight of the amp.
 
There are some huge amps with "rack mount" panels that I doubt could support the weight of the amp.

The ones that make me giggle are the ones with rack fronts and handles but heatsinks on the side that would ensure they’d not fit in a rack even if it would support the weight, or if you actually assembled the rack around them they’s have no airflow around the big macho heatsinks. Some early Levinson and MF fit the bill. I think Krell stopped putting the rack mounting holes in their really crazy wide heatsink stuff (KSA80 etc).
 
Rack mounting is so 70's. Current production Audio Research still sports rack handles, but not the mounting holes. I suppose they will protect the switches and knobs if one fell flat on its face.
 
I think the rack handles are still useful for one or two man lifting if they have (often removable) ‘bumpers’ installed on the back side. You can carry them vertically and set them down with the faceplate pointing up. That’s how my 70s Sansui AU-717 is, and I’m guessing this might be the intent of the Krells, Brystons, Audio Research, etc. The rear bumpers also help keep you from pushing the box too close to the wall and stressing the interconnects/sockets. IIRC some of those models with the big milled front handles had much more utilitarian handles on the back in place of bumpers which would allow for a horizontal two person carry.

At some point they became only for looks. I remember some of the strange handles on the Krells and not understanding how they were meant to be held. You’d at least need leather gloves to protect yourself from the sharp edges!
 
As far as I know the handles on the fronts of American amps are there solely for the pretense that the amp may be mounted in a relay rack.

There are some huge amps with "rack mount" panels that I doubt could support the weight of the amp.
With the exception of Audio Research or other amps which I may not be aware of, front handles on huge and heavy power amps are particularly useful for lifting or carrying the amp with less effort. I used to own the Plinius SA100 mk3 and it's impossible to carry the amp without using the front handles as there are large metal heat sinks at both sides of the amp. The amp even has small handles at the rear as well.

If the amp does not come with handles on the front panel, 2 people would be required to carry the amp.
 
p-accu-a48-05.jpg

This eschews the need for ugly handles. No sharp edges either ...
 
A friend was asking about the A-48 amp., and whether it ran hot. I put my hand over the top, where the mesh vents were, and reported that no, it was just warm. Later, I happened to be reaching behind the amp. to sort the wiring out & noticed the top row of heatsinks were pretty hot; not unbearably so. The bottom row were again just pleasantly warm. Doing their job...
 
Given the newer ones are well out of my league, is it worth going after the older ones assuming they have been serviced? Is there a sweet spot, i.e. which are the ones worth going for? I heard the earlier ones are good then there was a bit of a lull in the 80s and perhaps 90s.

I have never heard any Accuphase, but I expect the older ones especially, to sound to be a little lush, warm and not very dynamic with perhaps not the most amount of detail. Would that be about right?
 
Apparently the A-48 has a soundstage control:
https://audiofi.net/2020/02/accuphase-a-48-a-final-frontier-power-amp/

"The gain control is a useful feature to change the character of the soundstage. I could vary the width and depth by simply balancing the input signal against the amplifier gain. Set to a higher gain, the A-48 produced a wider and deeper soundstage while the lowest setting brought the entire presentation forward with slightly compressed depth and layering. You can have Eva Cassidy standing anywhere between five-to-15 feet in front of you at will by simply adjusting the gain selector. You can also have the soundstage stretching beyond the speakers’ boundaries."

Interesting idea o_O
 
I have never heard any Accuphase, but I expect the older ones especially, to sound to be a little lush, warm and not very dynamic with perhaps not the most amount of detail. Would that be about right?
That’s not a description that would make me think of Accuphase. They are very slightly on the warmer side of things, but not short of dynamics or detail in any way, they just don’t shove it in your face for the sake of it.
 
Apparently the A-48 has a soundstage control:
https://audiofi.net/2020/02/accuphase-a-48-a-final-frontier-power-amp/

"The gain control is a useful feature to change the character of the soundstage. I could vary the width and depth by simply balancing the input signal against the amplifier gain. Set to a higher gain, the A-48 produced a wider and deeper soundstage while the lowest setting brought the entire presentation forward with slightly compressed depth and layering. You can have Eva Cassidy standing anywhere between five-to-15 feet in front of you at will by simply adjusting the gain selector. You can also have the soundstage stretching beyond the speakers’ boundaries."

Interesting idea o_O

In other words, driving the preamp into distortion.

On a guitar amp that would be called "Master Volume".
 
Nah, not interested in trying any more speakers - I've been listening to the damn things, all shapes, sizes and prices, for over fifty years & it's a relief to settle on one. The DBLs will see me out (SWMBO’s determined to bury me in one, hopefully when I'm actually dead).
Fair enough.
Mac
 
Given the newer ones are well out of my league, is it worth going after the older ones assuming they have been serviced? Is there a sweet spot, i.e. which are the ones worth going for? I heard the earlier ones are good then there was a bit of a lull in the 80s and perhaps 90s.

I have never heard any Accuphase, but I expect the older ones especially, to sound to be a little lush, warm and not very dynamic with perhaps not the most amount of detail. Would that be about right?
If you’re talking about Luxman, there was a long period from 1984 to 1994 where they were owned by Alpine (the car stereo company) and these were considered the low point. The Luxman Wikipedia page says Luxman was nearly bankrupted in the Alpine era.
 
If you’re talking about Luxman, I believe there was an era, maybe 90s(?), where they were owned by Alpine (the car stereo company) and these were the least well made. At least that’s what I remember. You could probably Google ‘Luxman Alpine’ and get more accurate info. It’s probably not worse that average Japanese gear at the time, but they looked cheaper and sell for less used.

Yeah, Alpine owned Luxman between 1984-1994. They tried to go after the market share of Yamaha, Pioneer et al and took the Luxman name down-market in the process. From what I can gather, Luxman gear of that period is ok but as you said it's basically the same as the mass-market Japanese brands which is not really what Luxman was/is about. It would be like Ford buying Porsche and starting to make cars that sell for £20k.
 
Yeah, Alpine owned Luxman between 1984-1994. They tried to go after the market share of Yamaha, Pioneer et al and took the Luxman name down-market in the process. From what I can gather, Luxman gear of that period is ok but as you said it's basically the same as the mass-market Japanese brands which is not really what Luxman was/is about. It would be like Ford buying Porsche and starting to make cars that sell for £20k.
I did my research and edited my post while you were posting and now we have the same info :)
 
I did my research and edited my post while you were posting and now we have the same info :)

Yeah! Lucky that Luxman came out the other side. The stuff from immediately post-Alpine in the mid/late 90s looks suitably sumptuous and expensive as has everything since.

It's a shame that Sansui never came out of the other side of when they went downmarket. Although they went *seriously* downmarket from what I've seen: latter-era Sansui stuff looks like the archetypal 80s cheap BPC which is tragic considering how they were originally a cut above the rest of the mass-market brands like Pioneer, Yamaha, Onkyo etc.
 


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