Luxman m-900u owners - quick question

@4425  What about a more neutral and quieter preamp, instead of the Luxman c900u, such as the Benchmark LA4 or Mola Mola Makua preamp. It is not so much a question of funds for me but the issue of number of boxes in limited space. I heard the c900u + m900u and it was amazing. 

Someone did tell me the Makua sounded better with the m900u than the c900u but that opinion is a bit biased.

There is a lot of discussion on the Luxman m900u on this thread.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/my-long-list-of-amplifiers-and-my-personal-review-of-each

I went to an audio store to audition the 509x and I liked it. I was about to go home when the dealer said have a listen to the m900u/c900u. I had about 15 minutes to do this other wise I would get stuck in LA traffic for hours.

Big mistake. The m900/c900 was so much better than the 509x on the same system. I ended up staying about an hour + listening to that combo and tossed out the idea of the 509x. The m900u has much more power than the 509x. It was easily demonstrated on the TAD ME-1 monitor speakers that were hooked up to the system.

I did not get the m900u/c900u combo because I found something more appropriate for my smaller space. However, I may revisit the Luxman amp in the future for the bigger space downstairs. I will not get the C900u preamp since I will use a Benchmark HPA4 preamp from now on any system I build.

BTW - I had about a 3.5 hour drive home because I stayed longer to demo the m900/c900 combo. It should have been under 2 hours.