Luxman L505u . . . why not?

I am not familiar with those setups, sorry. While I have followed the comments you allude to from others where Luxman was steered in aother, wrong, direction when under Alpine, it is clear that is no longer the case nor has been for some time, quite the contrary. I do have a L-590a II on order.

Lol! Jim, before you shoot yourself in the foot yet again, reread what you've written. And I say this not to defend the Leben at all- I don't own one, or Luxman, yet.
Twice now you have used the Leben with speakers you obviously don't like, the diatones and the thiels. And twice you blame it on the Leben. Before you write off the Leben, you need to use it with either the speakers you own or something very similiar. I don't know the sound of the diatones, but I've never liked thiels, at least the ones I've heard. You describe them to a t. And again I say your luxman is masking that. The top end on the Harbeth is extended yet sweet. And that's what the Leben showed.

Again, speculation only, but from what I've read, the newer Luxman gear is equal to or better than its predecessors. Even though it's not mentioned much, yet, maybe because of it's price point, 6k, the new version of the 38q is supposed to be stunning. It's odd that people are either buying the new lower priced entries or the top two expensive models. Obviously none of the new gear by Luxman is in your price area now. Is the Leben used?

Keep at it...

Hello Chashas1: Yeah, I'm new to this and I know now it's almost useless to test-listen on equipment other than your own. It was fun trying, though. It seemed to me that logically if one amp sounds better or worse than another through several different speaker systems then it is likely a similar relationship would hold with your own speakers, but this subject involves loads of factors of acoustics and taste as well as that simple "logic," which is becoming ever so clear to me, so that "logic" might not hold at all.

The shop has a policy of dibs: Interested parties put their name on equipment, and have rights to buy it, in order of when they put their name on it, within 3 days of being listed. If your name comes-up, then you can buy it, and if you return it within 30 days you get 90% of your money back.

I was not first on the list on either listening, and therefore I could not buy it and test it at home for 10% of the price, which I would certainly have done had I had that chance. I figure that price is like a night out in the pub here in Japan, but much more interesting and rewarding, and it is how I happen to have the Prima Luna at home now. I have one more week with that amp before I return it.

During my second listening someone bought the amp, and based on what we heard we didn't really feel bad about it.

If I made a mistake, then just to let you know I wasn't using bullets, but bombs to shoot myself in the foot with, because the Leben was in beautiful mint condition and had the Mullard tubes people seem to prefer, and many on here will probably go cry when they read this: it was only about USD $1000, it's normal price in Japan where local audiophiles apparently don't generally consider it so great.

That means that, had my number come-up and was able to buy it, even if I disliked it at home I could have sold it to someone overseas who really appreciates it and made a hefty profit.

My number didn't come-up, and I couldn't have owned this particular Leben even if I wanted to.

I wonder how else can I choose the best amp when I have no chance to listen on my own equipment?

I wonder how else can I choose the best amp when I have no chance to listen on my own equipment?

Take it with you. While not your room, at least it is your speakers. Not always easy, but it is an option. Or, buy low enough to resell if you don't like a piece.

Mushi mushi, Jim! oh no, you didn't make a mistake, you were only going on what you heard -at the time. That's not always an easy task. Great prices over there, I'd say.

I didn't realize when mentioning other options that you were looking solely for used, although, all the newer Luxman is much cheaper over there than here, as you can tell from the earlier part of this thread.

One thing I've think you've learned, with your specific tastes you really should get whatever amp to your home to use with your speakers, unless you take the speakers out of the house!
There's a thread under Speakers now that might interest you, someone compares the Harbeth 30's with your speakers.

Well, keep at it. Take a break and go eat some shishamo for me, lots of it.
Take care
Chas