Luxman Integrated - What do they sound like

@erik_squires I recently acquired a new Luxman 507ux; So far I like it very much. Initially used with Focal Aria 948s, and now Green Mountain Callistos; very soon I will be taking delivery of new Dynaudio Contour 30's and look forward to that pairing.

The Luxman seems to do everything I expect from a well designed and engineered amplifier; This is my very first Luxman component. Without embellishing the details excessively; this is my assessment thus far;

Midrange/ vocal reproduction; superb for any amplifier, SS or Tube. Just seems right; vocals seem detached from electronics with no obvious colorations or imperfections;
Treble: very extended and sweet; harmonic overtones are rich and natural; metallic sounds metallic, reeds sound reedy; trumpets have excellent bite and texture; crash and ride cymbals sound real with excellent transients and decay..etc. zero issues with treble. Acoustic guitar is vibrant and appropriately steely or nylon-ish depending on the guitar; overall among the best I can remember hearing in my system over the years. The sparkle is there if it's on the recording.

Bass; deep, powerful, fast, energetic, 'round' but not overblown or ripe; this amp holds nothing back; if the speakers are up for it this amp will deliver the goods;

Imaging/sense of scale; similar to the treble comments; if it's in the recording this amp holds nothing back; image and soundfield will be rendered directly proportional to recording virtues; nothing more/nothing less.

Overall musicality and 'feel': I think this amp is pretty special and I like it a ton; I like everything about it; I have not yet discovered anything negative about it at all; I do sometimes over-react when getting new gear but I can tell that this amp is very likely a long term keeper; I think I would have to spend at least 2-3x more to get any very noticeable improvement in any category; I think at this level its more like just finding the thing that makes you forget the most about the equipment; there will be differences in amps for sure and no one can say what is more right; what's right for you is what you like and WANT to listen to.

Build quality; superb fit and finish; attention to detail is spot on. Just love the mechanical design and the feel of the controls. It feels bulletproof; super solid and chunky.

Playback Flexibility; I LOVE the OPTION to use tone controls. We all have music we love on crap recordings and that just needs a few dB of bass boost; This is HUGE value add for me. HUGE. 

Warmup time: I could not hear any differences in starting from cold to on for days; my PL HP Dialogue on the other hand needed ~60 minutes to come on song. That really annoyed me. I just don't have that kind of time these days (kids, work, life, other priorities, etc). The amp is consistent and sounds awesome all the time.

Value; I did not pay full MSRP for this, but even at list price of $6,500 I don't think I could do any better by going the separates route; Hopefully it remains issue free and lasts well into the future; I look forward to listening time with it;

rest of system for reference:
SOURCE: Auralic Aries network player
USB Cable; Wireworld starlight 7 "red"
DAC: Meitner MA-1
INTERCONNECT: Cardas Golden Presence RCA
SPEAKER CABLE: Wireworld Silver Eclipse 6, 2M

If you have the chance to get one, I highly recommend it;
Cheers.

so......on the beginning I will say that I own 509x and got it in the trade from twice the price Dartzeel LHC208.
I had following amps at home in my system before I finally settled down for L509x:
1. Nagra Classic Integrated
2. DartZeel LHC208
3. Hegel H160
4. Hegel H360
5. PassLab INT150
6. Hegel H20/P20
7. Luxman L550AX2
8  Luxman L590AX
9. Shindo Monbrison with Haut Brion
10. Line Magnetic LM219a
11. Sudden A21SE
12. Ars Sonum Filarmonia
13. Ars Sonum Gran-Filarmonia

I used to own DeVore Fidelity Orangutan 0/96 but finally settled on DeVore Super Nines as being best fit for my room and music taste. 
Luxman D08u is used as a source and Audience Au24X cables across the whole system.

Ask me more specific question about 509x and I will do my best to answer it. 

@arturgorniak Nice set of amps that you have been through. Not surprising that the Luxman 509x topped your list. It is fantastic providing vibrant, dynamic, controlled sound but is also a great all rounder. An end game amp for a lot of people. 

@arturgorniak I was wondering about the sonic differences between the 507ux and the 509x...if you have ever compared them.

btw, a quick update: the 507ux is a wonderful wonderful match with Dynaudio Contour 30's; I just replaced the Focal Aria 948's with the Dyns and love the results. 

I've got the DAC/AMP plugged into an Isotek Aquarius power conditioner.
Using a Silnote PC on the AMP.

I did not have a chance to audition 507u BUT 509x is way above all the previous integrated made by that company. Brand new league. Some likes the 509 better than 900-Series separates (google a review written by the Australian guy). I truly love it and have no urge to change the amplification for a long time. 
On the other hand - let's be realistic, if you are driving inefficient (below 86dB) speakers in a larger and damped room, this amp will quickly run out of steam. 
I have Dynaudio Contour 60 in my second - living room system, in a room that is closed to 30 X 20 heavily damped with rugs, soft furnitures, books, etc. When I tried Lux in that set-up, I did not get the 82dB sound pressure in my listening spot (15' away from speaker) before 509 entered "red zone" on the UV meters and sound started to be distorted. 
That set-up will require something like Hegel H590 which I will be demoing soon.
Also, hearing any amp, speaker, CD player, cables etc at the dealer is truly wasting your time - I cannot stress it hard enough. Anytime you want to buy a piece of ANY gear, make sure you demo it in YOUR room with the equipment you use everyday. Otherwise you will be wasting money - example. At my dealer, Devore 0/96s sounded bright to the point of giving me headache  - in my room , exactly opposite - rolled off to the point that I got rid of them, replacing  with new - Super 9 design. Never, ever buy something off of other people recommendation. We all hear different and value different aspects of sound. The guys at Stereophile are heavy biased and often have totally different expectation than average guy.