I agree with many comments so far. I can add my own experience.
I fell back in love with high end audio when I heard the combination of a pair of Vivid K-1s and a Luxman 600a. For some reason, after several years of various lukewarm equipment demos, these made the music (and my senses) come alive and woke up the part of my brain that lusted after that feeling. I bought the speakers immediately because they were offered to me at a good price. To try to make it work within my already blown budget, I sought out a cheaper amplifier. I tried Unison research, Naim and a few others, but to no avail. All seemed to have a polite “hi fi” sound with the K-1s that felt relatively 2 dimensional (only partly talking soundstage here) compared to the way music was spilling (and occasionally erupting) out of the K-1s tethered to the 600a. (The source was an MSB analog DAC, used as pre-amp, btw) Eventually I asked my dealer to bring in a luxman integrated. I’m 99% sure it was the 550ax if memory serves. I would say that the integrated fell exactly half way between the two experiences. It was right at the entryway of Luxman’s magic, but not all the way through the door. I liked it, but it didn’t compel me the way the 600a did. It felt extremely competent with a taste of the liquidity, robustness, organic flow and slight warmth that Luxman class A accomplishes so well, but not the full meal. At this time I also brought in the Hegel integrated and I found it very dark in comparison with the Luxman integrated. I liked it, kinda, but not nearly as much as the Luxman sound. (Incidentally, the Hegel did such a better job driving my father’s difficult-to-drive ancient doenfors than the Luxman integrated that he bought the Hegel.)
The bank-breaking 600a purchase was starting to feel inevitable. But before I committed, I decided to look at a bunch of other options near its price range. These comparisons were extremely instructive. I tried the equivalent mid-level Ayre amp and found it very dry and thin, brittle almost. Really made me appreciate the flesh-on-the-bones meatiness that the Luxman class A gear brings. I then listened to some tube gear (Leben 1000 most notably) and realized that that 600a’s meatiness and slight is definitely why people refer to Luxman as being tube-like. That said, I’ve heard some tube gear completely outclass Luxman in this domain, but always at a cost of either some coloration or a thickness to the “air” that makes the meatiness almost claustrophobic to my ears. That’s when I appreciated how neutral and airy the Luxman sound was and the value that brought to the table. I then auditioned some Devialet monoblocks and again saw the Luxman outclassed in the parameters of neutrality and detail retrieval. But over time, I found the Devialet sound boring and I eventually stopped feeling compelled to listen to my system (kinda like trying to maintain a good convo with the buffest guy at the gym... doesn’t always work out, pardon the pun.) That experience made me really appreciate how “alive” (not necessarily “live”) the music felt through the K-1 and 600a and how fundamental that was to hitting the endorphin buttons in my brain. At the price point, nothing brought together the meatiness, airiness, neutrality and aliveness of the Luxman amp. I ended up buying it, then adding the c-600 preamp, then went monoblocked 600a’s, then graduated to c-900 and m-900 combo. You could say I fully drank the Luxman coolaid. I will say that the 900 series are a step down from the 600/800 full class A designs in terms of the meatiness of the mid range. But they bring something completely else to the table.
So my only recommendation to you before you pull the trigger on the integrated is to try and compare it to an older generation 600a (which can be had quite cheap on audiogon)... it might just get you all the way through the door of the Luxman experience for similar or fewer dollars.
those are as many comparisons as I have. Hope it’s helpful. Good luck on your journey.
josh
I fell back in love with high end audio when I heard the combination of a pair of Vivid K-1s and a Luxman 600a. For some reason, after several years of various lukewarm equipment demos, these made the music (and my senses) come alive and woke up the part of my brain that lusted after that feeling. I bought the speakers immediately because they were offered to me at a good price. To try to make it work within my already blown budget, I sought out a cheaper amplifier. I tried Unison research, Naim and a few others, but to no avail. All seemed to have a polite “hi fi” sound with the K-1s that felt relatively 2 dimensional (only partly talking soundstage here) compared to the way music was spilling (and occasionally erupting) out of the K-1s tethered to the 600a. (The source was an MSB analog DAC, used as pre-amp, btw) Eventually I asked my dealer to bring in a luxman integrated. I’m 99% sure it was the 550ax if memory serves. I would say that the integrated fell exactly half way between the two experiences. It was right at the entryway of Luxman’s magic, but not all the way through the door. I liked it, but it didn’t compel me the way the 600a did. It felt extremely competent with a taste of the liquidity, robustness, organic flow and slight warmth that Luxman class A accomplishes so well, but not the full meal. At this time I also brought in the Hegel integrated and I found it very dark in comparison with the Luxman integrated. I liked it, kinda, but not nearly as much as the Luxman sound. (Incidentally, the Hegel did such a better job driving my father’s difficult-to-drive ancient doenfors than the Luxman integrated that he bought the Hegel.)
The bank-breaking 600a purchase was starting to feel inevitable. But before I committed, I decided to look at a bunch of other options near its price range. These comparisons were extremely instructive. I tried the equivalent mid-level Ayre amp and found it very dry and thin, brittle almost. Really made me appreciate the flesh-on-the-bones meatiness that the Luxman class A gear brings. I then listened to some tube gear (Leben 1000 most notably) and realized that that 600a’s meatiness and slight is definitely why people refer to Luxman as being tube-like. That said, I’ve heard some tube gear completely outclass Luxman in this domain, but always at a cost of either some coloration or a thickness to the “air” that makes the meatiness almost claustrophobic to my ears. That’s when I appreciated how neutral and airy the Luxman sound was and the value that brought to the table. I then auditioned some Devialet monoblocks and again saw the Luxman outclassed in the parameters of neutrality and detail retrieval. But over time, I found the Devialet sound boring and I eventually stopped feeling compelled to listen to my system (kinda like trying to maintain a good convo with the buffest guy at the gym... doesn’t always work out, pardon the pun.) That experience made me really appreciate how “alive” (not necessarily “live”) the music felt through the K-1 and 600a and how fundamental that was to hitting the endorphin buttons in my brain. At the price point, nothing brought together the meatiness, airiness, neutrality and aliveness of the Luxman amp. I ended up buying it, then adding the c-600 preamp, then went monoblocked 600a’s, then graduated to c-900 and m-900 combo. You could say I fully drank the Luxman coolaid. I will say that the 900 series are a step down from the 600/800 full class A designs in terms of the meatiness of the mid range. But they bring something completely else to the table.
So my only recommendation to you before you pull the trigger on the integrated is to try and compare it to an older generation 600a (which can be had quite cheap on audiogon)... it might just get you all the way through the door of the Luxman experience for similar or fewer dollars.
those are as many comparisons as I have. Hope it’s helpful. Good luck on your journey.
josh