Contrary to Luxman’s published specs, the L-590AX puts out in excess of 90wpc into 8ohms, not 30. It’s not purely Class A, they seem to have fibbed a bit. Presumably, it’s Class A for the first 30W. It’s far from "low powered". The phono stage is also more than a mere afterthought. http://www.navratilaudio.cz/novinky/Luxman_L590AXII_HFW.pdf
Please tutor me on some integrated amp basics.
I’ve recently purchased Magico A3 speakers and a VPI Classic 2 SE turntable with an Ortofon Black 2M moving magnet cartridge. I have a Marantz SA 8005 CD/SACD player to play the few (maybe a hundred or so) CD’s in my possession.
I’ve mostly vinyl albums and no streaming sources. I’m next going to upgrade my old amp/preamp purchased back in the late 70’s with a new, probably integrated, one and am starting to do some research.
Here’s where I need some tutoring. A lot has changed since the seventies with the advent of digital technology. As well as I need to learn more about amplification components in the high end of audio technology. I keep running across terms I don’t understand. I’ll give you a list and if someone would be kind enough to explain these basics I’d be obliged.
For instance I was reading about the Hegel H360 integrated amp that Magico’s Alon Wolf recommended for their A3’s. The review mentioned they were a Class A/B amp, another person commented Class A’s were better, and a third person said he didn’t care for Class D amps. What do these classes signify?
A second question is about DACs. I generally understand their purpose of the DAC, converting a digital to an analog signal. However my only digital device, the Marantz SA 8005 already has a DAC, ostensibly of good quality. The turntable ’s Ortofon cartridge would not need to play through a DAC, I presume. Would I bypass the CD’s players DAC if I purchase the higher quality Hegel H360 integrated amp?. Or could I find an equivalent integrated amp without an integral DAC?
On the other side of the equation I understand the turntable’s cartridge cannot play through the Hegel without first going through a phono stage. My old Phase Linear 4000 preamp you just plugged the turntables RCA cables into the back of the preamp and you were done. What’s that about? Do they make equivalent integrated amps to the Hegel H360 with integrated phono stages already in place, so I can just plug my turntable in as I’ve been able to do before. The amps don’t seem to be well integrated at all if you have to add a pricey phono stage to make them work, and end up having an extra DAC. That’s just me whining.
Third question is what are monoblocks, how are they used, and what are their advantages to a system? They were used at one of my speaker auditions.
I figured out the answer to what amplifier damping was myself, so I’m sparing you that one, but what does the term impedance mean? I keep coming across that.
Thank goodness I don’t have to figure out the cabling nightmare yet. Thanks for any help.
Mike
I’ve mostly vinyl albums and no streaming sources. I’m next going to upgrade my old amp/preamp purchased back in the late 70’s with a new, probably integrated, one and am starting to do some research.
Here’s where I need some tutoring. A lot has changed since the seventies with the advent of digital technology. As well as I need to learn more about amplification components in the high end of audio technology. I keep running across terms I don’t understand. I’ll give you a list and if someone would be kind enough to explain these basics I’d be obliged.
For instance I was reading about the Hegel H360 integrated amp that Magico’s Alon Wolf recommended for their A3’s. The review mentioned they were a Class A/B amp, another person commented Class A’s were better, and a third person said he didn’t care for Class D amps. What do these classes signify?
A second question is about DACs. I generally understand their purpose of the DAC, converting a digital to an analog signal. However my only digital device, the Marantz SA 8005 already has a DAC, ostensibly of good quality. The turntable ’s Ortofon cartridge would not need to play through a DAC, I presume. Would I bypass the CD’s players DAC if I purchase the higher quality Hegel H360 integrated amp?. Or could I find an equivalent integrated amp without an integral DAC?
On the other side of the equation I understand the turntable’s cartridge cannot play through the Hegel without first going through a phono stage. My old Phase Linear 4000 preamp you just plugged the turntables RCA cables into the back of the preamp and you were done. What’s that about? Do they make equivalent integrated amps to the Hegel H360 with integrated phono stages already in place, so I can just plug my turntable in as I’ve been able to do before. The amps don’t seem to be well integrated at all if you have to add a pricey phono stage to make them work, and end up having an extra DAC. That’s just me whining.
Third question is what are monoblocks, how are they used, and what are their advantages to a system? They were used at one of my speaker auditions.
I figured out the answer to what amplifier damping was myself, so I’m sparing you that one, but what does the term impedance mean? I keep coming across that.
Thank goodness I don’t have to figure out the cabling nightmare yet. Thanks for any help.
Mike
Showing 13 responses by builder3
Yeah, Luxman class A within your budget is $5.5k, 40 watt/ch/4ohm. If it is a very conservative figure - it might be enough for moderate level listening, I don’t know. Could be interesting to compare it to Luxman A/B, $4.5k. My wild guess - depends on what you are listening and how loud, there might be no clear winner. inna, take a look at the link I posted earlier. The Luxman L-590AXII actually is putting out over 150 wpc into 4 ohms. Used, a very nice L-590AX probably will be about $4000. (this is the version before the MkII came out) The newest version, the L-590AXII, used, maybe $6500. I’m not sure why Luxman insists on only claiming the Class A output, and nothing beyond that, I think they’re doing themselves a disservice. Once again, these are not low-powered amps. L. |
New or used, my only point is that the Class A Luxman amps aren't nearly the low-powered pieces that the official specs indicate. I can't compare them to other brands, I don't have the broad experience with lots of other gear that so many others have, but the L-590AX isn't a 30w amp, not by a long stretch. |
Mike, I understand what you're saying about not wanted to buy used, but I'll still throw this out there. My amp was $10,000 new, something I could not have justified as a purchase. So I looked at the used offerings until I found one that was pristine, it was about a year old, and $4300. It's my only piece of used gear. Best of luck, |
Luxman's lowest end integrated was built in China, and considerably cheaper. That was a few years back, and I don't know anymore about it. https://onahighernote.com/shop/integrated-amps/luxman-l-350aii-pure-class-a-integrated-amp/ |
There’s a used L-509X listed here now for $6495/make offer. This is Luxman’s brand new top of the line A/B integrated, $9500 new. Obviously, it’s your money, Mike. It looks brand new. https://www.stereophile.com/content/luxman-l-509x-integrated-amplifier |
Mike, anything reasonable won’t be an issue. You’ll have to look for it, but I had some Belden plenum-rated braided wire that was great. Basically, zip-wire on steroids. Bought it originally for some low-voltage wiring, used the remainder short-term with a pair of speakers. Probably was 14 gauge. This looks similar -https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BWS20SO/ref=psdc_464416_t2_B00CTWDNS8 |
Here's another option in that same price range for a tonearm cable. I don't have one, but my speaker cables & interconnects are from DH Labs, and I like them a lot. https://silversonic.com/products/phono-cables/dimension-phono-cable/ |
Mike, these won't bankrupt you, and will set a standard for any high-priced offerings you care to audition later.https://silversonic.com/products/speaker-cables/q-10-signature/ |