[schw06]

I am wondering people's opinions of the 590 AII or 590AX integrateds. I am thinking of simplfying my system and am considering a Luxman integrated. I bought a Luxman lV-117 integrated in the '80's and loved it for 2 decades. Anyone give up tubes for one of these?
David

[DTB300]

I remember Tone Audio having the 590 AII...they wrote up just a small blurb on it in their review section of the website.  So maybe drop them a note and ask them for some further information....

BTW, I still have a M-117....nice amp for the day.

[Doublej]

Like these?

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/luxman4/luxman.html

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/luxman-l-590-a-ii-integrated-amplifier/

[blutto]

...long story short...worked in a HiFi shop during the early 80's that carried a lot a low, mid and high end stuff...it was the period when the Nad 3020 was THE giant killer amp...we carried Luxman but didn't initially give it much credance ( way too pretty to be good we thought and the price points were weirdly off and it was made by a car audio maker which to us audio snobs was like tres yuckkk... ) and as a result it didn't sell well....( in those days you carried the Luxman line to get the Alpine line which was a huge money making machine )....

...then one day a client brought in a Nad 3020 ( which a competitor across the street sold ) to compare against our Nad killer the Yamaha 320...and just to make the comparo a bit more interesting we tossed a Luxman 30 watt integrated into the mix...well, the Yamaha beat up the Nad pretty handily, which was actually not a surprise because the best thing about the Nad was actually the ad copy, but the big surprise was how badly the Luxman beat up the competition....

...with our curiosity now really tweaked we ended up over the next few weeks doing an across the board comparison with the Luxman line ...we found the whole line-up kicked some serious butt...and our store became a major Luxman seller, because frankly, even though they were a bit more expensive at each price point they were clearly a superior sounding product that had great reliabilty..

...so yeah...for that era, great stuff...never quite got the press but clearly a winner ( and Alpine-Luxman never really pushed the audio line because they were so focused on their car audio product...the audio line suffered as a result and just withered on the vine and eventually died which is really too bad because they were good products )...hope this helps as background information...

...and btw their Japanese catalogue from that era was chock full of the most amazing tube awesomeness...which is what the new incarnation of Luxman is drawing on I'm guessing...

Cheers

blutto   

[iluzun]

Check out the Yamaha A-S2000, the thing kicks some serious butt....

May be the best deal in audio 2day....

[schw06]

Check out the Yamaha A-S2000, the thing kicks some serious butt....

May be the best deal in audio 2day....

   Have you actually compared the 2 side by side or just making a statement that you like the Yamaha?

[jd3]

I auditioned both a 550 and a 505 for about a month. I had a SS amp and a tube pre at the time.  I ended up with the 505 because it seemed to have the most synergy in my system.  My buddy bought the 550.

I don't think I gave up anything in sq by going with an integrated.  In fact, I prefer it over the separates I had.  Plus, it's got a phono input! 

[iluzun]

"I am thinking of simplfying my system...."

Been there, done it, couldn't be happier.  I have NOT heard the Luxman,
but have heard them in showrooms & @RMAF.  I've owned a $50k stack
of gear, & several full on tube rigs, until recently. 

IMO the Yamaha offers a dead silent noise floor w/gobs of clean & extended power.  It's a very neutral
amp/pre combo that can drive a lot of speakers & will accurately portray
what u r feeding it.  It is not lean, nor flat.  The caps & amp design r unique & it punches WAY above what you pay.  Match it up w/the best cables you can afford & I think you may be surprised at how musical & detailed it is.  It has a huge & enveloping soundstage w/instrument placement & resolution of inner detail & decay.  Plus you get a headphone amp & a mm/mc phono w/tone controls. 

If you want to 'step off', without stepping back, it will not disappoint. 

Then again, this hobby is all about 'swank' right.....?   

[rockadanny]

Interesting review on the Yamaha ...

http://www.audioenz.co.nz/2008/yamaha_2000.shtml

[iluzun]

The guy must have hubcaps 4 ears.  I've a large room 25x30x16 in a log
home & have not used Magnepans.  I have hooked up & driven quite
successfully a pr. of Castle Conway IIIs & Daedalus spkrs.  The Yamahas
ability to biamp a dual binding post spkr. is most welcome.  They sound great & anybody who has owned a pr. of Daedalus knows that they enjoy
a 'bit of current' to sound their best.  I pr. both w/JBL pro super tweeters &
they have never sounded better.  Oh, & the Yamaha CD-S2000 is excellent
also.  Balanced & detailed w/all sorts of music.  I would not trade it for a
12k player I owned previously.  I had talked w/VSE about doing their mods,
but am so enamored w/the stock I will wait until 'audionervousa' hits again.
The combo does so much right.  I've run a music server for several yrs. &
wanted to purchase 'one last' cd player.  The Modwright Transporter is a
wonderful & fun piece of kit that one can learn about all sorts of tubes while
flavoring ones system to taste.  The Yamaha is a killer transport into such &
a dandy player on its own.  Go figure, 20yrs, & tens of thousands of dollars
later & one arrives, back to where one started, luving the music....

[iluzun]

Oh, & I bet 'hubcap' ears, had the spkrs. hooked up to the B set of
outputs.  These r for 8ohm only & should be used for the tweets when
used to biamp.  I did the same to the Daedalus when first hooking up &
they sounded 'off'.  It was when reading the manual, (eventually) I noted
the difference as the A set is recommended for wider impedance swings.

[rockadanny]

Hubcap ears? You might be on to something. Here is a photo from the review:

   

[iluzun]

Great photo!  As an audio friend once told me, the biggest tweak he ever
did was 'having his ears cleaned'.... 

Just to clarify my above regarding A & B outputs.  Daedalus spkrs. only have
one set of binding post.  I had hooked them up from the B set, the ones for
8ohm only & quickly decided, no way....  Took the spurs. out & moved them aside where they sat for 2 weeks.  Then, after reading the manual.....put them back in wired up correctly & shazam!  It's all good.  I run Audio Magic
Liquid Clairvoyants throughout my system except for when bewaring, then I
run solid silver to the uppers.  My room if fairly dead so even w/the Daedalus
I run the tweeter attenuator in the 'up' position, to get a bit of sparkle.  Again, the Yamaha is tonally flat & extended on both ends, very neutral & quite.  It resolves inner detail very well w/excellent separation of instruments within a very large soundstage.

Again.....killer photo...thanx

[srb]

Oh, & I bet 'hubcap' ears, had the spkrs. hooked up to the B set of
outputs.  These r for 8ohm only & should be used for the tweets when
used to biamp.  I did the same to the Daedalus when first hooking up &
they sounded 'off'.  It was when reading the manual, (eventually) I noted
the difference as the A set is recommended for wider impedance swings.

The A-S2000 amplifier is a two channel stereo amplifier and does not bi-amp, but merely has an A and B set of speaker posts that can be individually selected for two sets of speakers, or the third switch position, A+B/Bi-wiring, that as far as I can tell simply connects the two sets of speaker posts in parallel.

I am looking at the A-S2000 manual, and I don't see any mention of impedance differences of A versus B speaker connections, but only a caution that the impedance of each speaker should be 8 ohm or higher to use the Bi-wire connections.

Steve

[iluzun]

Sorry, on glancing thru the manual I can't come up w/it either.  Gotta go
pick my kid up from school so will have to get back.  I know I didn't
'imagine' it, so it must be written down somewhere.  Later...

[iluzun]

Sorry for the misinformation, as this a.m. I cannot find any reference to what
I'd thought I'd read.  A or B binding post 4 to 8 ohms.  A & B binding post
8 ohms.  When biwiring of course.  The amp still kicks butt.  You r correct as to the info. not being in the manual.  What the hell did I read?  I stand corrected.....