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Luxman and Accuphase integrated amplifiers.

TheDecameron

Unicorns fart glitter.
These are things of beauty to me, yet in 40 years of owning hifi, I’ve never heard one! I’m curious to hear from aficionados-
Does each have a particular house sound and are they quite different from each other?
Are they comparable with decent pre/power set ups in terms of transparency and clout?
Are the mc phono stages worth the inclusion?
 
All the Accuphase I heard were rather neutral and pleasant to listen to for long periods of time. They were too expensive to me though for the sound quality they offer, maybe you pay for the look.....

For the Luxman stuff, I have mixed emotions. Some are rather good sounding, others are very low end stuff. To me, a good quality of vintage Japanese integrated is either similar or better than the recent Luxman I heard lately, IMO.
 
These are things of beauty to me, yet in 40 years of owning hifi, I’ve never heard one! I’m curious to hear from aficionados-
Does each have a particular house sound and are they quite different from each other?
Are they comparable with decent pre/power set ups in terms of transparency and clout?
Are the mc phono stages worth the inclusion?

Are you asking about vintage or contemporary products?

Lux Corporation in their heyday – for me,early 70s-early 80s – made some extraordinary products. First Lux amp I ever heard was a 30w per channel integrated which made a 110w Rotel sound very silly. I think the phono stage was a large part of that, though MM only on that particular model. The first generation Laboratory Reference Series were superb, by the prevailing standards of the day very low powered for the price, but made a top end Pioneer integrated sound like there was something seriously wrong with it. The C12 pre-amp from that range remains one of the prettiest bits of kit I've ever seen.

Well documented patchy history thereafter, the name was applied to some unmitigated shite as the brand changed ownership a number of times.

A decade or so when I was running a second system in the office I revisited some of my favourites from 'my era' via eBay, an L85 integrated and R50 receiver stood up pretty well, perhaps best of all was a T-12 tuner which was good enough to make its way into the main system.

Now part of IAG of course, which in truth would be enough to count me out, but in (relative) fairness the beancounters do appear to have largely left well alone, although in recent times manufacture of some of the less expensive stuff has been offshored.

By all accounts some of the Class A amps remain highly desirable, although personally these days I think I'd rather have a Sugden Masterclass for the sort of money we're talking about.

Accuphase I know less about in hands-on terms, but I wouldn't kick them out of bed. Last time I heard Accuphase was at a dealers running Accuphase integrated/CDP and Avalon speakers, it was far from offensive but didn't really hold my attention. When the same dealer crossed my threshold a week or so later, he described my (then) CEC CDT/DAC, Lavardin IT and LV OBX-RW as being 'more for the heart' as opposed to his system which was 'more for the head' in his words (he applied for a LV dealership a few days later). I'd not argue. Hard to quibble with the Accuphase build quality though, and it seems to retain its value very well, doubtless helped by the longevity of their models.

Er, what was the question again?
 
I have owned high end Luxman and Accuphase (early examples only)

Luxman, pre Alpine owned, are some of the best I have ever heard. My all time favourite Luxman was not integrated though, C-06a and M-06a pre / power with the matching 'wedge' CD player D-05Xs. Absolutely stunning kit and I regret selling it. £15K new in 1990 though. Owned Luxman receivers too. Impressive and beautiful.

The early Accuphase CD/ amp was a let down. Also, a ticking time bomb. Fragile PCB tracks..... I am sure that later examples are a big improvement.
 
I own Accuphase CD (410) and integrated (308). I've had Linn, Densen, Naim, Lavardin and others in the house and I've always preferred the Accuphase, running the brand for over 15 years. I think they are helped with good cabling and supports, but not everyone agrees of course. I've only heard a Luxman once, and against a similarly priced Accuphase it was second-best. Their phono option boards are excellent, but list most things from the brand, not cheap.

Worth having a look at the video:
 
Lux Corporation in their heyday – for me,early 70s-early 80s

Well, that's answered a doubt I've had for half a century. In spring/summer 1970, just prior to entering college, I took over a big maisonette in West Hampstead while my friend sojourned to Morocco (usual reason). I had a big, silver Lux integrated amp powering my 15" Goodmans behemoths in this 'hippy pad'. Your history above is the first indication to me that it was indeed a Lux and not a Luxman, as I'd been led to believe.

Can't remember much about it (and I had a few pieces of choice kit through my hands about then) and those were hazy days.....The large Japanese integrateds and receivers, R2Rs, tuners and first upmarket cassettes were just entering their ascendancy then.
 
These are things of beauty to me, yet in 40 years of owning hifi, I’ve never heard one! I’m curious to hear from aficionados-
Does each have a particular house sound and are they quite different from each other?
Are they comparable with decent pre/power set ups in terms of transparency and clout?
Are the mc phono stages worth the inclusion?
I think they are very different, and liking one doesn't mean you'll automatically like the other. For me, Luxman is a bit 'meh'. Nice, beautiful even, but not very engaging.

Accuphase, however, is probably my favourite amp brand of the moment. Their current range can, as far as I'm concerned, do no wrong. As the name suggests, Accuphase take pains to preserve the phase relationships in the music signal, and this only really becomes apparent if you use their amps into speakers which also pay attention to this. Obvious ones are Avalon, Focal, Tannoy, and the new kids, Fyne Audio, but I've also heard them sound wonderful with Amphion and Russell K. These speaker brands all take trouble over things like time alignment, simple, phase-accurate* crossovers, and such like. I think an Accuphase amp through transducers like these is revelatory. What I take from them is an extraordinary capability with timing. Musicians seem to up their game, everything is tighter, cleaner, on the money.

They're also pretty bombproof. Their CD/SACD players are also pretty amazing. And, yes, I'm reliably informed their onboard phono stage is as good as you'll get for the money.

*Yes, I know, crossovers are not truly phase-accurate, but some are a lot better than others.
 
Your history above is the first indication to me that it was indeed a Lux and not a Luxman, as I'd been led to believe.

It's the same company, originally Lux Corp., the 'Luxman' element was introduced as a branding exercise, although I've never been completely clear what it denoted.

Some of the designs, like the Lab Ref Series, made no mention of Luxman, typically carrying the tag line 'Customed by Lux Corporation' on the front panel, sometimes with the 'L' brandmark icon, usually without. But there are cheaper integrateds which also carry that line and some kit produced at the same time carried both that and the brush script style 'Luxman.'

Consistent branding was never their forte (maybe in part why everything went tits up), some products, such as the L80 series amps carried no immediately obviously front panel branding, just 'Luxman' in tiny uppercase lettering along with the model id. Then of course there was the 'hexagonal' Luxman block style which I think first appeared on the c/M series pre/powers.

Hardly surprising you were confused, so was I, and I used to sell the stuff.

I think the revived IAG-owned company is now officially Luxman Corporation, possibly that happened at an earlier change of ownership.
 
A very good friend of mine had an Accuphase E470 driving a pair of Avalon Ideas. This setup sounded pretty good.

However, when he replaced the Accuphase integrated with a Nagra Classic power amp and a PLL preamp, the positive impact was huge. The increase in the level of detail, realism and "meatiness" makes one believe that the Accuphase was simply average driving the Avalons.
 
In 2009 ish I was searching out a valve integrated, and auditioned a fair few. I admit that the look of the SQ 38u played it's part, but I was more swayed by the build quality (amazing inside, top components, beautifully put together) and by the inclusion of tone controls, a very good MM/MC phono stage and an even better headphone output. The ads made a fuss of heritage build and performance...a bit OTT frankly in a Patek Philipe way but then when I heard one it did what I needed and so. Probably the least valve sounding of all valve amps I heard, but the HL5's didn't need any extra warmth. A few years later I changed speakers and, aged fingers and creaking bits dictated less 'fiddle' so I decided to go SS. Again a series of auditions followed of SS amps around the £3000 mark and again the Luxman won. Then still Japanese built (some were being built in China but not this series) it was exactly as well built as the SQ, and also had tone controls, a headphone amp and MM/MC high low phono stage...and a conservative 100 wpc. Best sounding amps I heard? No. Best built? Very very close, yes. Best overall package? Yes.
We don't appreciate the top Japanese makers as much as the rest of the world, which is our loss I think.
Luxman make 3 ranges of good amps, the valves, the A class series and the u class amps, which are AB. The latter are the most neutral and clean sounding. They have very little 'character' as such so I can see why some find them boring. My philosophy has always been to create my 'character' with cartridge and speakers.
Accuphase I have heard a lot, but never owned. I would, but I don't like gold. The Accuphase and Luxman class A amps have a similar character, but I slightly prefer the Accuphase and it's sense of easy power. The Luxman sounds powerful and controlled, the Accuphase sounds like it's in cruise all the time. I have not heard Luxman's seperate big amps so can't comment there. Neither make is the best of the best. That is reserved for those amps that offer more sound and less facilities like Pass labs, but either is I think the best of the useful amps for a fit and forget lifetime system.
 
I think they are very different, and liking one doesn't mean you'll automatically like the other. For me, Luxman is a bit 'meh'. Nice, beautiful even, but not very engaging.

Accuphase, however, is probably my favourite amp brand of the moment. Their current range can, as far as I'm concerned, do no wrong. As the name suggests, Accuphase take pains to preserve the phase relationships in the music signal, and this only really becomes apparent if you use their amps into speakers which also pay attention to this. Obvious ones are Avalon, Focal, Tannoy, and the new kids, Fyne Audio, but I've also heard them sound wonderful with Amphion and Russell K. These speaker brands all take trouble over things like time alignment, simple, phase-accurate* crossovers, and such like. I think an Accuphase amp through transducers like these is revelatory. What I take from them is an extraordinary capability with timing. Musicians seem to up their game, everything is tighter, cleaner, on the money.

They're also pretty bombproof. Their CD/SACD players are also pretty amazing. And, yes, I'm reliably informed their onboard phono stage is as good as you'll get for the money.

*Yes, I know, crossovers are not truly phase-accurate, but some are a lot better than others.
Sue, are you using pre/power and have you tried the integrated?
 
Sue, are you using pre/power and have you tried the integrated?
I’m currently using an Albarry pre-power, which replaced an Accuphase E213 back in the day and was a clear improvement on what was in fairness Accuphase’ entry level model over 10 years ago.

My local dealer does Accuphase, and I’ve heard the integrateds and various pre-power combos. My Albarry is outperformed by the current integrated line up once you get above entry level, in many respects that matter to me. I’m seriously considering changing.
 
I see MusicWorks has taken over as the distributor. Accuphase always struck me, much like Luxman, as suffering in the UK from inconsistent or half-arsed distribution in past decades.
 
Yes, here’s hoping more people get exposed to them now.

Depends what they choose to do with it, I think.

It was a lot simpler when I were a lad, distributors promoted the brand, organised reviews, handled servicing and er, distribution and shops sold the boxes.

Nowadays some dealers are distributors, some distributors are dealers, some distributors don't distribute, but some will sell direct, as will some manufacturers. Sometimes.

The lines are a lot fuzzier than they used to be...
 
I had an Accuphase 406V for a number of years and enjoyed looking at it more than anything else. The sound was pleasant enough, but nothing about it was particularly special. I still regretted selling it though because of something ridiculous like pride of ownership. After going through a number of European amps, I now have the Yamaha A S3000, which to my ears is a lot better than the Accuphase ever was and draws me consistently into the musical performance. Although I have only heard one at a local dealer's, an Accuphase E 550 class A class amp sounded much better than the 406V. I would love to have one of those!
 


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