Integrated Amplifiers - Luxman vs Pass Labs

Hi Chorus, thank you for your post.

For the past couple of years I've had the pleasure of a nice 2A3 amp/preamp setup which I absolutely loved with my high efficient Coherent's but I'm moving away from that.  I found that I was constantly worrying about the usual downsides to tube gear such as potential tube failure and degradation etc...  It got to the point where I wasn't able to enjoy the music the way I should have been and found myself listening more out of my SS amp because of it.

I guess I'm trying to re-create as much as possible the sound I was getting from my tube gear - big, detailed yet relaxing, present (in the room) sound without harshness. I would say that my current Luxman has gotten me the closest thus far to that sound but I'm hoping for a bit more body or fullness and a touch more warmth (bottom end maybe??).

How would you describe the sound you are getting from your Pass INT25 and Tannoy's?

How would you describe the differences between the Pass and Luxman gear you've had the opportunity to listen to?

I own the L-509X paired with Audio Note AN-K/SPx SE speakers.

The overall sound is open, relaxed, and natural sounding.  I think it's a great pairing.  Great at low volumes with the Loudness feature on, great at higher volumes with the Loudness off.

Excellent, thank you for chiming in on the synergy you are getting with the Luxman and Audio Note speakers. 

I was able to briefly listen to a pair (I believe they were either a 'J' or 'E' model) at an Audio Show and I was smitten by their fullness and naturalness of sound.

Have you had an opportunity to pair them with any Class-A amp?

The L-509X is biased to run Class A for the first 6 watts.  The AN-Ks are 90dB efficient.  Given my setup, I do most of my listening under 6 watts/Class A.

👍

I own a 505uxii and love the simplicity of it. I was looking at a INT-25 or INT 60 but I like the fact that the Luxman integrateds have phono and headphone stages. I didn't want to have to spend more money on phono/headphone amps and additional cables.