Integrated Amplifiers - Luxman vs Pass Labs

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.

Interesting that you find Pass to be 'lean'.  From all my reading of Pass and their lower end heft, I would have thought it provides a bigger, fuller body to music; which is to my liking.

Yea, I don't personally get  the description or hear Pass to be 'lean', at all...; as someone who currently owns the XA30.8, have owned the X250.8, Bryston 4B3, Benchmark AHB2, and Modwright KWA 100SE, I would personally place the Pass on the slower rounded side compared to all of the others I mentioned.  To me the Pass adds depth and meat to the sound, and if that is what you like, like I seem to, it sounds so life-like and easy to listen to.   The most recent additions to my system to compare against the Pass amps were the AHB2 and 4B3 and I felt they both offer a more resolving and leaner presentation (still smooth though); you hear more of the recording, but I thought they also lost some of the 3d like humans are playing in your room quality I hear from the Pass.

The only recent Luxman I've heard was the C-900/M-900 combo driving the speakers I ended up purchasing and now own, at a local dealer.   I thought they sounded great, lots of detail and very smooth;  I wouldn't call either of the two Pass amps I've owned 'lean' compared to the Luxman separates.

Definitely try to listen for yourself...; worse case either a Luxman or Pass shouldn't be hard to re-sell if you grab one and end up not being happy with the purchase.