Questions Luxman L-505u, L-507u, Simaudio & Classe


My friend recently purchased a Luxman L-550A II Integrated for his Sonus Faber Auditor M speakers (my speakers also) and wants me to look at Luxman. I own the Ayre AX-7e Integrated amp, it is fully balanced and I like it very much. He is very happy with his Luxman Class A amp with these speakers. and believes I would be too.

The Luxman L-507u looks interesting but $7,000 is out of my range ($5k max) and so maybe I should look at the Luxman L-505u. The Luxman L-550A II Integrated is class A, runs hot and it not friendly toward the environment.

It is my understanding that Luxman amplifiers are not dual mono design yet have XLR inputs. My Ayre QB-9 USB DAC outputs balanced and I prefer my amplifier to be balanced with XLR inputs. The Sumaudio Moon 600i (dual mono) looks very interesting on paper but, again, is over my price range at $8,000. The Simaudio Moon i5.3 amplifier looks very interesting but does not offer balanced inputs. The Classe CAP-2100 Integrated also looks interesting and is priced at $5,900 (a little high for me).

Based on my listening last night, my Ayre AX-7e integrated sounds great to my ears and I see no reason to change amplifiers. However, my friend is "taking" me to the store for a Luxman demo shortly and I am interested in hearing your comments on the Luxman units L-505u & L-507u and any other integrated amplifier for my Sonus Faber Auditor M speakers. Thanks
hgeifman
I respectfully disagree that moving to the Luxman L-505u is a sideways move. Having owned the Ayre AX-7e and auditioned the L-505u in-house for a long period of time, the L-505u is certainly more authoritative in the bass control and gives sense of "being there" more so. Please don't get me wrong, the AX-7e is an incredible amp, but the L-505u steps everything up, except maybe not as warm sounding. Anyway, just my 2 cents. Thx. JD
325xijd,
if you don't mind me asking, what speakers are you using with the 505u ?
I can just imagine the 507u and the 509u taking things in stride.
Nolitan,
My speakers are B&W 804S. With the way the L-505u is able to drive them, I can only imagine how the 507u & 509u would take them few notches further.
The 804s are not really that efficient. That is good that the Luxman can drive them.
I'm considering down-sizing my system from seperates to
integrated and am very interested in the Luxman 505u. I
am currently running a Krell fpb 300c into talon audio
raven c's. When I say 'currently'I'm aluding to time frame
and the sucking of juice from my wall outlets. Has anybody
compared the luxman to anything like the krell?