replace Mcintosh with Luxman

I did just the opposite. Went from Luxman solid state to McIntosh tubes. way more pleasing to my ears.
I still keep the 505 UxII in the rack for the times when the 2500 pre may go down.

I was considering a McIntosh to drive my Tannoy Gold Reference Sterling speakers that I acquired for an excellent price. Thats was before I spoke to a Luxman dealer who told me that customers who buy McIntosh from him very often bring it back and trade it in for a Luxman. I purchased the Luxman L-507-ux also for an excellent  price. It's worked out very nice for me. 

Being remote in Alaska, I'd consider reliability to be the most important thing.  The most reliable audio vendor in the world is Bryston.  I wouldn't fool around with anything else.  Especially McIntosh.  Not as well made and reliable as you'd think.

The thing is that they definitely sound very good on their own. But whenever I compared them to what else I could get in the market, I always found another brand that offered the same or higher sound and build quality at a much lower price point. I feel that with McIntosh you’re paying a substantial premium for pedigree or pride in ownership, or whatever you want to call it. This is important to a lot of audiophiles, nothing wrong with it

Never owned any Mc. I have auditioned it and talked to their reps at my local dealer who feature it.  Also talked to their support about my Wadia that Mcintosh Group now own.  Most overrated product on the market.

A long time ago, my local Audio Research dealer carried Luxman.  I think of it as akin to Linn:  Very good but not the best or the money.  Ditto Mac, but probably better than the former two.