I stand by my observations above. Hegels are not "clinical". They are very very good amps, in fact, rather excellent. But there is a certain Je ne sais quoi about many Luxman products. Their mid level and reference products simply sound natural and inviting to me.
My system consists of Audio Research 160M amplifiers, Wilson Alexia 2s, 3 different cd players including the Spectral SDR 4000SV as well as an incoming Techdas Premium 3 with SAT arm--so I can’t say that the sound I have at home is anything like what I heard, for example, with the Luxman tube amp and preamp and Triangle speakers at the last audio show I attended. But I can say that I felt compelled to revisit that room 4 or 5 times because I was so taken with music coming from that system. Nothing stood out as the best trait, nothing extraordinary---except the overall sound which was clear, uncolored, well balanced and completeIy natural. It truly felt like the musicians were in the room.
