Higher-End Class A/B vs. Class A Integrateds

@dman777  Sorry, I was not at all clear.  I meant, when listening to say a Luxman 509 or 590 or 507, I wonder how much of the tonal character is actually the preamp section, as opposed to the A or A/B output stages?

@dman777 - A lot of what you describe is what I hear with my 507ux.  I wonder how much of the character of our integrateds is in the preamp and not the amp section instead?

Also, speaking of bass extension, I highly recommend the Mogami quad speaker cables with the Luxmans.

Just to be clear, I think class wars for amps are silly.  The OP and other readers should buy what they like the sound of without much concern for the amplifier "class" except perhaps for heat and weight issues which buyers should also consider as part of the total cost of ownership.

The idea that a class is "best" isn't what my ears tell me.  There are some megabuck class-A amplifiers I can't stand, and some Class D amps I'd buy over them every time.

Class D, like Class A, suffers from legendary social memory about the technical differences which is often wrong or outdated. 

Far better, IMHO, to compare Luxman's Class A integrated to the Luxman A/B units. Listen for yourself with your speakers to decide.  The specs are (except for power consumption) kind of irrelevant.

@soix

Yes, I am nothing but an amalgam of Internet myths without the ability to independently validate the veracity of anything. 

@pcolvin🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

God you are hilarious.

@pcolvin

How do you think any of your post, some of which is wrong, refute or illustrate my post?

The idea that Class A is always lower distortion than Class A/B is simply not correct. It is only correct about one particular type of distortion. Pass for instance is famously and proudly high distortion even in Class A operation.

I was kind of under the impression that class A was better than class A/B due to lower distortion yet again, there are some well reviewed class A/B amps that are as pricey as some class A amps.

There are some megabuck Class A amps I would never trade my A/B Luxman integrated for. The theory is that Class A amplifiers have less distortion right at the zero crossing point, but in absolute distortion terms it is not always the case that Class A has less distortion, it just doesn’t suffer from one particular challenge. I find the peculiarities of an amp to be much more important than the class. Also, I can’t really imagine living with a large class A amplifier due to the power waste.

There are even some Class D designs I like a lot more than some famous Class As.