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Luxman/Accuphase/Yamaha - Quality?

Gervais Cote said:
If they are recent and pure class A, yes they sound rather good !
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I had the opportunity this week to listen to a brand new Luxman integrated, 2 x 30 watts in pure class A and I was very pleased. This is the kind of amplifier you can listen to for 8 hours in a row without any listener fatigue, no doubt. And it’s very lively although not as punchy as a Naim NAP 250DR.
As for the build quality, it really seems to be in the major league. I saw an opened demo and the heat sinks are huge, components are all well spaced and I saw some resistors that were rated 8 watts and rather big so attention has been paid to heat caused by the class A topology to make this amp a long lasting one IMO.
Chapeau Luxman pure class A !
 
Another brand that wouldn't be out of place alon side the amps in this thread is MBL... anyone ever owned one, or had a demo?
Mac
 
Ok, yes I had the demos last Friday and the dealer has been more than very helpful.

I listened to the Luxman 509x, 590 ax mark 2 and the Accuphase E450. I ruled out the 450 as it didn’t sound any better than either Luxman amps and as has been said before the 650 is a big step up so it was either of the Luxman amps for me.

The 590 ax2 has a very rich, warm sound typical of class A with lovely mids and plenty of bass. The 509x I felt was more balanced in its sound, no one element was greater than the other and it revealed lots of detail particularly in the mids and upper registers. The bass was very controlled and tuneful. I brought the 509x home to try out and then a few days later I asked could I return it and try the 590ax out at home and the dealer allowed me to bring that home and try them side by side to make sure I was certain about my choice. This confirmed what I thought so it looks like I’ll be going with the 509x and I’m returning both amps tomorrow. I listen to a wide range of music, rock, prog, pop, indie, big band, Irish traditional, and a little jazz so for me the 509x gave me the most enjoyment from my listening. At home with the amps I listened to vinyl and streamed Tidal through an Audiolab MDAC+.
 
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Peter Finney said:
The 590 ax2 has a very rich, warm sound typical of class A with lovely mids and plenty of bass. The 590 I felt was more balanced in its sound, no one element was greater than the other and it revealed lots of detail particularly in the mids and upper registers. The bass was very controlled and tuneful.
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Just to clarify. I presume 590 as underlined above is a typo and should be written as 509x?
 
Thanks for the detailed report. The L-590AXII does have a rich, smooth and warm sound. I find it spectacular with instrumental or classical piano. It does sound a little smooth for all music genres. I'm currently doing some cable tweaking to bring out more dynamics from the 590AXII, specifically power cords.

Enjoy the 509x. It's a good choice.
 
Peter Finney said:
Ok, yes I had the demos last Friday and the dealer has been more than very helpful.

I listened to the Luxman 509x, 590 ax mark 2 and the Accuphase E450. I ruled out the 450 as it didn’t sound any better than either Luxman amps and as has been said before the 650 is a big step up so it was either of the Luxman amps for me.

The 590 ax2 has a very rich, warm sound typical of class A with lovely mids and plenty of bass. The 509x I felt was more balanced in its sound, no one element was greater than the other and it revealed lots of detail particularly in the mids and upper registers. The bass was very controlled and tuneful. I brought the 509x home to try out and then a few days later I asked could I return it and try the 590ax out at home and the dealer allowed me to bring that home and try them side by side to make sure I was certain about my choice. This confirmed what I thought so it looks like I’ll be going with the 509x and I’m returning both amps tomorrow. I listen to a wide range of music, rock, prog, pop, indie, big band, Irish traditional, and a little jazz so for me the 509x gave me the most enjoyment from my listening. At home with the amps I listened to vinyl and streamed Tidal through an Audiolab MDAC+.
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Congrats on your choice... it wouldn't have made sense to go for the older model E450 when you could have the Luxman, if going for Accuphase, it would at least have been the E470, or ideally the E650, but the price is prohibitive in anyone's book.
Mac
 
maccar said:
Congrats on your choice... it wouldn't have made sense to go for the older model E450 when you could have the Luxman, if going for Accuphase, it would at least have been the E470, or ideally the E650, but the price is prohibitive in anyone's book.
Mac
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E470 has now been superceded by the E480, so the E450 is well old, innit.

Edit, 2007 according to the Accuphase website!

Having heard how far the 480 improves on the 470, doing the audition with the old 450 does seem like a bit of an unfair fight. I'd at first assumed that PF made a typo when he mentioned the E450, but then he repeated it so either he was mistaken, or the dealer had some very, very old demo stock.
 
Peter Finney said:
Ok, yes I had the demos last Friday and the dealer has been more than very helpful.

I listened to the Luxman 509x, 590 ax mark 2 and the Accuphase E450. I ruled out the 450 as it didn’t sound any better than either Luxman amps and as has been said before the 650 is a big step up so it was either of the Luxman amps for me.

The 590 ax2 has a very rich, warm sound typical of class A with lovely mids and plenty of bass. The 509x I felt was more balanced in its sound, no one element was greater than the other and it revealed lots of detail particularly in the mids and upper registers. The bass was very controlled and tuneful. I brought the 509x home to try out and then a few days later I asked could I return it and try the 590ax out at home and the dealer allowed me to bring that home and try them side by side to make sure I was certain about my choice. This confirmed what I thought so it looks like I’ll be going with the 509x and I’m returning both amps tomorrow. I listen to a wide range of music, rock, prog, pop, indie, big band, Irish traditional, and a little jazz so for me the 509x gave me the most enjoyment from my listening. At home with the amps I listened to vinyl and streamed Tidal through an Audiolab MDAC+.
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Lovely choice. I have had the chance several times (by which I mean the thought and the cash) to swap the 505 for something else, but I simply can't now see the point. No loudspeaker worries it, and it just goes on playing everything I stick on in its calm, neutral and musical way.
Thunderous bass is thunderous, sweet highs are sweet and high and etc.
The Luxman kit and now the 12" Tannoys have been wholly responsible for me forgetting HiFi as a hobby, and restarting musical enjoyment as one instead. Top stuff.
 
Cereal Killer said:
Accuphase UK prices are a bit OTT when you compare them to the prices in Asia.
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Yes, I know the UK distributor and he is a bit frustrated that shipping costs, and the state of the UK £ make UK prices look uncompetitive; it is very unfair also that people assume this is rampant profiteering in the UK market.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Yes, I know the UK distributor and he is a bit frustrated that shipping costs, and the state of the UK £ make UK prices look uncompetitive; it is very unfair also that people assume this is rampant profiteering in the UK market.
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UK import taxes are hideous. VAT + Import duty can add about 45% to the Japanese price (depending on the code) but an amp costing 5000 in Japan may have @2250 added to it on arrival here, and then you pay shipping ( £100?) and then the distributor has costs and the dealer wouldn't mind 30% profit either so??
5000 becomes 10000. Hideous situation all round.
I'm wondering now if a £2500 Brit made amp is therefore really in competition with a Japanese amp priced here at £5000?
 
Well for now, products made in the EU are fairly evenly priced. But US and Japanese hi-end products are 2x the price.

But funnily enough on standard products it’s the other way around....
 
@Rockmeister: The price you pay as a customer in Japan isn't the price the distributor has to pay when he import the amplifier. He also doesn't have to pay VAT 2 times, so you have to subtract the VAT in Japan too.;)
 
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