Luxman

[Vivek Batra]

Hi FMs

I need your suggestions/experience about Luxman products. Its been a while now that I am trying to find a good stereo amplifier for Klispch Forte III. In my experience there are not much avenues in India where you can go and have demo or atleast see the product you want to buy. I have ruled out the import option.

I have shortlisted Luxman L 550AXii or L-590AXii integrated amplifier (both Class A 20 wpc and 30 wpc respectively) along with Luxman DA - 250 DAC. I want to staty away from tubes for now. Reason being I do not want to be in a rabit hole again where I have the option to roll the tubes. I am just looking for a system that could keep me at peace for some years.

I have checked with the distriutor, there is no delaer except themselves who sells Luxman and there is no way to demo these particular models except visiting Japan . I even checked with few dealers abroad as well, but no demo was avialable.

These products are quite costly for me atleast and I am scared to go with these blindly. I am looking for your valueable advice on what should I do? Any Luxman users? I had a word with @Surrealistix as he owns top of the line amps from Luxman, He is quite happy with Luxman but the story is bit different as he own pre and power and I am looking for integrated one.

I am planning to use my laptop along with DAC for the time being untill I replenish my cash to buy a CD player or a streamer. I wanted to go full separates initially but thats too much of money. I can better wait than to invest in integrated solutions.

My expectations from the Luxman amp + dac is rich, dynamic and warm sound from the system as overall and should be able to produce the dynamics at low volumes as well. I am hoping there must be some users running Class A amplifiers who could give me some directions? One thing I know from @Surrealistix is that they run quite warm to hot and need airconditioning for sure in north summers. Rest no idea about Class A amps.

I am not sure how easy its for you guys to advice me on spending hell lot of money blindly and more over is it worth that?



Thanks a lot.

Regards
Vivek

 

[unleash_me]

Not to confuse you, but you might want to look into the Accuphase E-650 as well; if the budget is flexible i.e.

 

[prem]

The Luxman 30 watt class A is a very nice amp. It runs very hot though. I have not heard the 20 watt class A. With Klipsch, I would still recommend tubes over SS class A. Since you don’t want to import look up Luxman tube amp

 

[Vivek Batra]

Not to confuse you, but you might want to look into the Accuphase E-650 as well; if the budget is flexible i.e.

I checked about Accuphase as well that too will be a blind buy. I do not have any price idea about Accuphase though. If it's more than Luxman than out of my budget.

 

[Vivek Batra]

The Luxman 30 watt class A is a very nice amp. It runs very hot though. I have not heard the 20 watt class A. With Klipsch, I would still recommend tubes over SS class A. Since you don’t want to import look up Luxman tube amp

LX 380 is the only option. To be honest, I could not convince myself to go for tubes even though every second person recommended tubes with Klipsch heritage. Due to my not so good past experience, I am bit reluctant to go with something that's more delicate and needs at least some amount of maintenance or has limited life.

 

[prem]

Cool. I understand

 

[Vivek Batra]

Cool. I understand

 

[Nitin K]

I checked about Accuphase as well that too will be a blind buy. I do not have any price idea about Accuphase though. If it's more than Luxman than out of my budget.

Hi Vivek,

Since you are investing a lot in separates. It is worth coming down to Mumbai & taking a demo of the Luxman & Accuphase

Dealer for Luxman
1) Address: Designer Audio, Ballard House, Udyog Bhavan, Basement, Walachand Tel 22622839, 22622840 & 22622841, Walchand Hirachand Marg, Shiv Sagar Estate, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400038

Dealers for Accuphase
Address:
1) PREETI TRADING CORPORATION
3,Shubhangini,Plot No.51,
Gr.Floor,Milan Subway Road,
Santacruz(W),Mumbai 400 054, INDIA
Tel : Mr. Placid +91 9920144432
+91 22 2610 8820 Fax : +91 22 2610 8821
E-mail : [email protected]
Mr. Placid is quite a helpful person, you can check with him.

2) Audio Vision India Private Limited,2nd Floor, New Empire Cinema Building, Murzban Rd, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001
Phone: 022 2200 4040

Brands

Audio Vision

www.audiovisionindia.com

Pls check with Audio Vision, they may or may not have Accuphase.

Luxman dealer, Designer audio is in south Mumbai
Audio vision is also in south Mumbai
Preeti global is in Santacruz west near the Domestic Airport & is more or less in the center of Mumbai.
You can demo them in a day's time. Pls check with them first if they can give a demo of the models you are interested in in.

Regards,

Nitin

 

[Vivek Batra]

Hi Vivek,

Since you are investing a lot in separates. It is worth coming down to Mumbai & taking a demo of the Luxman & Accuphase

Dealer for Luxman
1) Address: Designer Audio, Ballard House, Udyog Bhavan, Basement, Walachand Tel 22622839, 22622840 & 22622841, Walchand Hirachand Marg, Shiv Sagar Estate, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400038

Dealers for Accuphase
Address:
1) PREETI TRADING CORPORATION
3,Shubhangini,Plot No.51,
Gr.Floor,Milan Subway Road,
Santacruz(W),Mumbai 400 054, INDIA
Tel : Mr. Placid +91 9920144432
+91 22 2610 8820 Fax : +91 22 2610 8821
E-mail : [email protected]
Mr. Placid is quite a helpful person, you can check with him.

2) Audio Vision India Private Limited,2nd Floor, New Empire Cinema Building, Murzban Rd, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001
Phone: 022 2200 4040

Brands

Audio Vision

www.audiovisionindia.com

Pls check with Audio Vision, they may or may not have Accuphase.

Luxman dealer, Designer audio is in south Mumbai
Audio vision is also in south Mumbai
Preeti global is in Santacruz west near the Domestic Airport & is more or less in the center of Mumbai.
You can demo them in a day's time. Pls check with them first if they can give a demo of the models you are interested in in.

Regards,

Nitin

Hi Nitin

Thanks for bringing this up. As I have mentioned the demo of the particular models is not available. Only entry level Luxman 505 and M700 monoblocks are on demo with Designer Audio. I guess same is the case with Accuphase.

 

[Vivek Batra]

Hi Vivek,

Since you are investing a lot in separates. It is worth coming down to Mumbai & taking a demo of the Luxman & Accuphase

Dealer for Luxman
1) Address: Designer Audio, Ballard House, Udyog Bhavan, Basement, Walachand Tel 22622839, 22622840 & 22622841, Walchand Hirachand Marg, Shiv Sagar Estate, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400038

Dealers for Accuphase
Address:
1) PREETI TRADING CORPORATION
3,Shubhangini,Plot No.51,
Gr.Floor,Milan Subway Road,
Santacruz(W),Mumbai 400 054, INDIA
Tel : Mr. Placid +91 9920144432
+91 22 2610 8820 Fax : +91 22 2610 8821
E-mail : [email protected]
Mr. Placid is quite a helpful person, you can check with him.

2) Audio Vision India Private Limited,2nd Floor, New Empire Cinema Building, Murzban Rd, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001
Phone: 022 2200 4040

Brands

Audio Vision

www.audiovisionindia.com

Pls check with Audio Vision, they may or may not have Accuphase.

Luxman dealer, Designer audio is in south Mumbai
Audio vision is also in south Mumbai
Preeti global is in Santacruz west near the Domestic Airport & is more or less in the center of Mumbai.
You can demo them in a day's time. Pls check with them first if they can give a demo of the models you are interested in in.

Regards,

Nitin

I think I spoke with Audio Vision, will call up Preeti Trading.

 

[Nitin K]

Hi Nitin

Thanks for bringing this up. As I have mentioned the demo of the particular models is not available. Only entry level Luxman 505 and M700 monoblocks are on demo with Designer Audio. I guess same is the case with Accuphase.

Most welcome Vivek. Pls try contacting Mr. Placid, probably he may arrange a demo of Accuphase. Else the experience of the other FM's who own them may help in clearing your your doubts.

 

[prem]

Vivek, I don’t think Klipsch likes too much damping. So check the damping factor of both Luxman and Accuphase. Go with the one which has a lower damping

 

[Vivek Batra]

Vivek, I don’t think Klipsch likes too much damping. So check the damping factor of both Luxman and Accuphase. Go with the one which has a lower damping

Luxman 550 AXii has damping factor of 260 and the 590AXii has 320. I was of impression that the more the damping factor is better? I will be happy to be corrected.

 

[prem]

It depends on the drivers used in the speaker. Many of the old brands don’t like too much damping. They take care of that in their driver design. You can’t have damping applied at both ends. Then sound becomes dry. For example for my JBL, I would not look at damping factor over 50.

 

[Vivek Batra]

This information should come from Klipsch, but unfortunately no such info in specs. I had borrowed a Yamaha AVR for 2 days to test the speakers, at least they were warmer than RP 8000Fs. Don't know it were my previous speakers or Denon was the problem.

 

[prem]

When you read the Klipsch forum, you’ll realise most use tube amps with the Klipsch heritage speakers. Very few use SS. It comes down to personal preference. Speaker designers normally leave it to the buyer to decide what they like.

 

[Vivek Batra]

When you read the Klipsch forum, you’ll realise most use tube amps with the Klipsch heritage speakers. Very few use SS. It comes down to personal preference. Speaker designers normally leave it to the buyer to decide what they like.

Thats true. Many people in Klipsch community advised to go for Primaluna or Cary Audio

 

[prem]

You should stick to that recommendation.

 

[Vivek Batra]

You should stick to that recommendation.

with some apprehensions

 

[AVM]

Hi Vivek,
You can look at this class A SS on sale. I have heard this many a times and seems apt to your requirement.
Considering the asking price you can give this a try

For Sale - Pure Class A Pass Aleph M Dual Mono Power Amplifier

I imported this Aleph M Class A Amplifier from UK. This is handcrafted with premium components and is very heavy. Tube like warm sound and 20 watts outputs Including shipping from UK and customs it costed me INR 70K Selling for 50K shipped anywhere in India. Output power 20 watts @ 1% THD 1KHz...

www.hifivision.com

Regards