McIntosh to Luxman?


Hey everybody. I need some advice.  It's fair to say I've lusted over Luxman equipment for a few years now.  Something about Japanese hifi that just gets me. Anyway, one of the online retailers of new and used equipment has a Luxman L-507uX (not the mark ii) for sale.  I do really like the sound from my hybrid MA252 integrated, and it drives my Maggie 1.7s with ease.  Most of my listening is of the streaming variety (Bludesound Node/Qobuz), and some vinyl (Music Hall MMF-5). 

Here's my question: what will the Luxman bring me that the McIntosh isn't providing?   More refinement?  More authoritative bass? Better soundstaging?  If the answer is yes, then I may pull the trigger on the Luxman.  By the way, I can get a nice trade-in on my McIntosh, so my out-of-pocket won't be too bad.    Please weigh-in if you've had both McIntosh and Luxman gear and what your experience with both brands has been.   Thanks in advance!   ~ Jerry

jrod68

Wait, you work for an audio magazine and Best Buy Magnolia! You are truly a joke!

@decathlon1991 As usual your assumption is again totally faulty. I wrote for the Soundstage! network for 17 years and only worked for Magnolia for a few months well after I stopped writing, which would’ve obviously been a conflict of interest and Soundstage! would’ve never let me do both. Granted, writing professional reviews of high-end audio equipment for 17 years in no way qualifies me more of an expert compared to you who volunteered for a college radio station. Ehem. You are truly the joke here. To put a finer point on it, the Magnolia in Paramus, NJ had a separate room exclusively for the Blades and Mac gear whereas the Woodland Park Magnolia store didn’t even have the Blades at all much less having them in a dedicated room. So much for your theory that all Magnolias are identical. Have your manager look that one up, that I’m sure she can do, and be prepared to eat some crow because you know not that of which you speak, but feel free to keep making inaccurate and ignorant assumptions and I’ll continue to knock them down with actual facts. Good luck with that.

@ Soix

Haha, haha!  There you go again twisting the narrative to fill the void in your miserable life KAREN, lol.  I never new that someone who claims to be a writer for a Canadian magazine company can have such a negative attitude towards a brand.  I never knew that writing about a piece of equipment of one’s narrow minded taste qualifies him as all knowing about audio gear, lol!  You crack me up with you ignorant opinionated comments. Thank goodness we didn’t believe the BS of those articles when it came to purchasing our own gear, because you don’t sit in our rooms or our environment, so how would you know?  Apparently you couldn’t keep a Best Buy job, lol.  Must be the Debby downer attitude.  As well noted on this forum, you couldn’t answer the question, you had to deflect because that was your best course of action!  In reality, the joke is on you, lol.  By the way, no one asked you to volunteer information about your past history or f employment!  No one cares!!!

 

PS. 

I’d rather read Absolute Sound or Stereophile magazine.  They are more on my level and now I truly understand why I never bought Soundstage!  Hey Soundstage!  If you’re reading, you now know why you weren’t the number one Audio magazine company!

I've owned a few Luxman and McIntosh amps too.  I prefer the Luxman Class A sound to the other class A/B from both companies. If I liked the A/B I'd have to compare them again.

I grew up with McIntosh amps in the house and love the old tone and tempo but they never had good clarity/transparency and I don't think they ever got that part right (for my ears).

@Bjeslen 

I agree with your assessment about the Class A Luxman amplifier.  They sound pretty good to me as well.  I also like the Accuphase Monoblock amplifiers particularly the M-2000! To me the best McIntosh Monoblock amplifier I have ever used in my system was the MC2301.  Especially if you upgrade the tubes.  Gosh, I’ve owned so many types of equipment. In one year, in the past I probably gone through 9-10 different Monoblock amplifiers.  My favorite recently have been the legendary old school fully restored Krell Pure Fixed Class A KRS200 Monoblock Amplifiers as well as Boulder 3050 Monoblock. Jeff Rowland Model 7, Model 12, Model 925, and even Gryphon Mephisto Solo Monoblock.  The journey never ends.

new luxman exclusive ss class a units are no more i think (correct me if i am wrong)

so you would need to buy a powerful class ab unit with hopefully high biasing to get first 10-15% in class a