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Luxman/Accuphase/Yamaha - Quality?

No not owned, but i have listened to them extensively on quite a few occasions at the naim dealer via a full 500 series system. They are very vascular and mid-ranged focused, but high level transients and delicate decays were easily better by some Avalon's.
 
The were set up very well IMHO; room optimised around them, permanently installed. They were tight up against the back wall with good space to the sides and maybe 3m apart, centre to centre. System to the right hand side of the room.
 
Paulq2 said:
There is - a big part of the attraction for me. What's interesting though, as the thread progresses, is that there's increasingly less talk of the Yamaha stuff. I think there's a strength of feeling over Luxman/Accuphase that attracts a large number of music people. :)
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I must admit I really like all three of them aesthetically, though the Luxman Class A or valve amps would be the ones I'd like to dem, I'm not sure I could live with the gold finish on the Accuphase amps, my guess is that Luxman and Accuphase would be more common in the audiophile specialist shops & favourably reviewed in the press, to be honest I can never recall a review of any Yamaha amps. Perhaps a bit too mainstream?
Given that Yamaha make some lovely musical instruments you might think their Hifi would be good a reproducing music, I liked their tape decks and always thought the Natural Sound moniker was quite apt.
 
Cereal Killer said:
I personally never found them not very agile or delicate with transients - but that's the naim thang ...
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I probably should stay away from this conversation but first, why give importance to a comparison between a small integrated amplifier and a five time the price amplifier/preamplifier combo. Second, as good as the revered DBLs are, the old Scanspeak D2010s are no match with modern high-end tweeters.
 
FWIW I have owned the Accuphase 406V and now have the Yamaha A S3000 and consider them both to be excellent. On balance, at least to these ears, the sound of the Yamaha is more detailed and generally engaging though, possibly because of its use of Mosfet transistors? The other thing I always found a little disappointing about the Accuphase was its use of plastic knobs behind the plastic front panel, at least 20 years ago. All the controls on the Yamaha are made of aluminium and glass is used in the power metres.
 
TLS said:
why give importance to a comparison between a small integrated amplifier and a five time the price amplifier/preamplifier combo
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My point is the speakers maybe holding back the delicate nature of the E-480 as it doesnt have the sledge hammer forceful drive of the 500's.... no criticism of the naim system implied.

TLS said:
the old Scanspeak D2010s are no match with modern high-end tweeters.
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That's my POV!
 
TLS said:
I probably should stay away from this conversation but first, why give importance to a comparison between a small integrated amplifier and a five time the price amplifier/preamplifier combo. Second, as good as the revered DBLs are, the old Scanspeak D2010s are no match with modern high-end tweeters.
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I don't "Revere" my DBLs, I just like them a lot. When I hear something better I'm happy enough to get those instead. Lots have tried... I'm sure you're aware speakers are rather more than the sophistication of their individual drivers. I've a pair of Neats that I use in another system. the mid-bass drivers are ten quid each, but the speaker sounds great. Implementation is all.

Anyway, this is about amplifiers. I'm taking my dealer's advice & trying the Accuphase 650, hopefully next week. I've never quite gotten on with Class A amps before, but I'm assured this one's quite a bit better than the 480.
 
I suspect the Yamaha will be at least as good as the Accuphase and Luxman. The high-end Denon amps are also excellent. Accuphase and Luxman just have the high-end kudos but it does not mean that their products are superior, necessarily. Looking at the specification of the Yamaha and the component choice, I suspect it will be the only amplifier you will ever need.
 
oldius said:
I suspect the Yamaha will be at least as good as the Accuphase and Luxman. The high-end Denon amps are also excellent. Accuphase and Luxman just have the high-end kudos but it does not mean that their products are superior, necessarily. Looking at the specification of the Yamaha and the component choice, I suspect it will be the only amplifier you will ever need.
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That seems to be the general consensus from people who own it or have spent time with it. I have been looking for a second hand or ex-demo A-S3000 now that the A-S3200 has superseded it but so far have drawn a blank in black. It's probably worth commenting that these are not cheap by any means - the A-S3200 comes in around £4k I think (so it would need to be all the amplifier I'd ever need :) )
 
I'm sure it's fine but, for me personally, there's no way I'd be spending nearly £5k on an Ebay amp that's in Italy....
 
Suffolk Tony said:
I don't "Revere" my DBLs, I just like them a lot. When I hear something better I'm happy enough to get those instead. Lots have tried... I'm sure you're aware speakers are rather more than the sophistication of their individual drivers. I've a pair of Neats that I use in another system. the mid-bass drivers are ten quid each, but the speaker sounds great. Implementation is all.

Anyway, this is about amplifiers. I'm taking my dealer's advice & trying the Accuphase 650, hopefully next week. I've never quite gotten on with Class A amps before, but I'm assured this one's quite a bit better than the 480.
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You are right about implementation. I assume that if Naim had to do a modern version of the DBL, they would certainly try to exploit the full possibilities of modern drivers.

I look forward to hear about your evaluation of the Accuphase 650!
 
Paulq2 said:
There is - a big part of the attraction for me. What's interesting though, as the thread progresses, is that there's increasingly less talk of the Yamaha stuff. I think there's a strength of feeling over Luxman/Accuphase that attracts a large number of music people. :)
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There are differences...but if I'm reading your posts correctly, the headphone amp and inbuilt phono stage don't bother you (the Luxman has very HQ items for both these, much better IMO than Yamahas offerings), but as I said the three are not a million miles apart in basic digital input replay. I think all three are built for several generations of use, and all three nod at their heritage. Yamaha made and make lovely loudspeakers...Luxman makes electronics and decks and Accuphase make electronics only. Maybe that's significant.
 
scotty38 said:
I'm sure it's fine but, for me personally, there's no way I'd be spending nearly £5k on an Ebay amp that's in Italy....
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The world, and PFM,doesn't end at UK shores ... It's a Japanese built amp at a dealer with an eBay shop, 100% satisfaction and 2500+ transactions. If you look at the business address it says London based and there's an Italian/int. telephone number.

Store details http://www.ebaystores.co.uk/Hifi-Moon/About-Us
 
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I've had ( in different systems) a Luxman L550AII and a Yamaha AS 2100, and the fit and finish on the Yammy is at least as good as the Luxman.

I'd also wager there's not much in the sound quality either.
 
If I was dropping £5k first stop would be the Accuphase 270. The newer models are an upgrade on my 308 vintage for less money.
 
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