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Luxman leaves me wanting

My current system is a Luxman L590-AXII driving DeVore Gibbon Super Nines. My source is Lumin U1-Mini (w/Sboosterj and Denafrips Venus II. Also a Rega P3. Speaker and interconnect cables are circa late 90s Cardis Cross There is a lot that is right about the sound of my set up, but I feel it’s lacking fullness in the midrange. When I turn on the loudness on the Luxman, I get the meaty weight in the mids I’m missing, but at anything but low volume, it alters the sound in a negative way. 
I had considered a tube Integrated before I got the Luxman, but liked the L590 when I heard it. Now I’m wondering if I should have gone with tubes. (At one point I had a BAT Pre w/ a Classe amp and loved the bloom in the mids and vocals).               I’m attracted to the LTA 40+ from the good reviews and long tube life. I’d be interested in hearing one with my speakers, but there are no dealers, so I could buy and return if I’m not thrilled, but wanted to know anyone has heard the 40+ with Super 9s. Also interested in other options to get a richer sound. Budget is around 8k.

128x128steverrino

Showing 2 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,856 posts
 

LTA is wonderful stuff because it is very neutral as tube gear goes.

These days, in the land of digital processing and streaming, Neutral hardware is always the best place to start, like a sheet of white paper. Then add some color separately as needed via Roon DSP or any other means you see fit.

Things were different back in 20th century analog olden days when hardware did it all. Nowadays you want neutral hardware then let the software paint the picture your way. Being stuck in the past can be a big and fairly expensive handicap. 

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,856 posts
 

Are you streaming with Roon? If so try applying some eq using the DSP functionality. If you are not, give Roon a try just for that. Easy fix once you get it right compared to the hifi merry go round especially once you already have good stuff that maybe just needs a little tweaking to get right.

If you want to be really brave you can also do Room correction with Roon + Room Eq Wizard freeware and a good quality usb mic to a laptop computer. That will really help set things right.

 

All rooms affect the sound greatly and you don’t know how good fixing that can be until you actually do it. Practically, I would always recommend do Room Correction first to set the table straight then decide if any changes or upgrades are still needed. Chances are you will be very pleasantly surprised what any good quality system can do once room acoustics are addressed properly. 

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