Meet the Luxman's

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

Meet the Luxman’s. We just recently we signed a new partnership with Luxman NZ, this is a brand with huge heritage, there is not an audio enthusiast on the planet who hasn’t heard of Luxman, to call the brand iconic is an understatement

The history of the LUXMAN audio brand began in 1925, at the birth of radio broadcasting. LUXMAN has paid particular attention to the world of audio and has gained high reputation as a quality brand of high-end audio products both domestically and internationally.

People tend to open their mind to natural things and react negatively to the unnatural. Natural sound, without coloration, develops an intimacy between the music and the listener.

Naturally and purely reproduced music resonates with the listener’s imagination. LUXMAN reflects this effect in our product development. Music that features a performer’s true passion and which a recording engineer has worked on precisely benefits from the fine nuances in sound which LUXMAN aims to reproduce, conveying the spirit of the artist and the enthusiasm of the performance. We strive to bring to the listener the experience of unlimited, pure music.

Composers, performers and recording engineers have poured their true feelings into our favorite pieces of music. LUXMAN would be satisfied if the listener could experience those same passions through our products. LUXMAN has celebrated its 90th anniversary and hopes to discover new excitement through wonderful music and to continue to share that pleasure with everyone.

Lets meet the Luxman’s

HISTORY – Meet the Luxman’s

LUXMAN started its business in 1925, the year when the radio broadcasting started in Japan. The company called Kinsuido, a picture frame company in Osaka, made a radio department, which later became LUX. Kinsuido was the first company to display and sell radio receiving equipment’s at the stores. A lot of people stopped to listen to the beauty of the sound. This was the very beginning of LUXMAN’s long history of tonal quality pursuit.

1925

Kinsuido (1925) – Kinsuido received a lot of information from overseas through imports of the pictures and frames. LUX founder who was the 2nd President of Kinsuido was keen on the technical information of radio and he experimented and researched radio and audio.

Kinsuido radio book – Kinsuido radio book with its catch phrase “Reading once makes you the radio expert” was the Japan –first radio manual book published by Kinsuido. It was at first self-published but later became the best seller until the 14th edition at the end. This book is known for its influence on audio engineers nowadays.

1928

LUX-1730 and LUX-735 was a hi-fi radio sold together with a magnetic-horn speaker.

1952

OY type output transformer – Since the beginning, Kinsuido radio department tried to have better technology to produce excellent radio/radio parts than overseas’. LUX succeeded to develop high quality parts such as OY type output transformers.

1958

Vacuum tube amplifier MA-7A – Stereo records of 45/45 launched and　the main audio source became the records replaced from radio. This year LUX launched MA-7A, a hi-fi power amp by full assemble after the world war. This featured world patented original technology cross-over NFB circuit.

1961

Vacuum tube integrated amp SQ-5A – The SQ-5A was a masterpiece of it’s era, which gained popularity due to the unique look of the level meter located in the middle of the front panel. This design, combined with it’s high-quality sound, became a huge hit. This model was already equipped with the LUX original tone control circuit, which can be found in our latest models.

1962

Vacuum tube integrated amp SQ-65 – The SQ-65 was equipped with our patent motion-feedback technology. This circuit controlled feedback to the amplifier according to the movement of the speaker’s paper cone.

Germanium transistor phono amp PZ-11 – Phono equalizer amplifier PZ – 11 using germanium transistor for the first time in Japan. Small and slim design also gained popularity.

1964

SQ-38D and WZ-30 – The SQ-38, which was born as vacuum tube integrated amp in a wooden cabinet with aluminium front panel, was later developed as the SQ-38D, SQ-38F and SQ-38FD models and the 70’s anniversary model, the SQ-38S. This was a popular series and you could find them everywhere, such as at many Jazz cafés back then, being a staple of the quality hi-fi amp market.

1966

OTL vacuum tube amp MQ-36 – The MQ-36 was designed without an output transformer, referred to as an OTL (Output Transformer-Less) amp. It became a popular model with a unique tasteful sound quality.

1968

Integrated amp SQ-507 – The SQ-505 and the SQ-507 are the original designs which have been developed into our current 500 series. The essence of that design and the sound quality are captured in our L-507 and L-509f models.

1971-80

DIY amps were popular at this time and LUX founded the “LUX Kit” company, offering 70 products, including vacuum tube amps, transistor amps, turntables and other units. The brand resonated well with the audio enthusiast market.

1972

The “L&G” brand was established in order to realize new proposals for audio product designs as lifestyle products. Our audio systems incorporating glamorous design and orange and white styling were popular. We gained support from those users who were always ahead current fashion.

1975

M-6000 Stereo amp, C-1000 Pre-amp, T-110 AM/FM tuner launched – LUX celebrated its 50th anniversary and became very proactive in the overseas market. The M-6000 high power amplifier was developed to break into the hi-end market, delivering an output of 300 Watts per channel. The power and the sound quality received great reviews from overseas.

1977

We launched a new audio system, the “Laboratory Reference Series” that takes component styles from various functional units, such as developing the world’s first DC amplifier configuration. We also utilized the latest audio technologies such as synthesized tuners and high-performance equalizer circuits.

1980

PD-300 featuring the Vacuum disc stabilizer – Our vacuum stabilizer system made the surface of an analog vinyl record stick to turntable with no air gap in between. It was an epoch-making mechanism, avoiding the influence on the sound quality caused by warped records.

1982

Cassette deck equipped with open reel cassette mechanism – LUXMAN developed a new transport mechanism, pulling the tape from the cassette into the reading system. This technology attracted attention as its sound quality was comparable to that of open reel tape.

1987

DA-07 featuring fluency DAC and CD transport DP-07 – Developed a fluency DAC applying function complementation theory by Professor Toraichi of University of Tsukuba which adopted the fluency DAC. Techniques for regenerating bands other than audible bands that are not recorded on CD by function interpolation have expanded the possibilities for CD audio sources. This technology is also inherited to the current digital universal player.

1990

D-500X CD player featuring Phillips CDM-3 mechanism – We developed a top loading CD player which eliminated the certain unstable moving parts. Many audio fans still enjoy listening to the D-500X, which features the highly regarded Philips CDM-3 mechanism and excellent double crown IC chip.

1995

Our 70th Anniversary Commemorative model. With a quartet EL34 output tubes in push-pull configuration and Williamson circuitry, we poured all of our knowhow into this model to truly polish the audio quality.

1996

Regarded as the flagship model for ten years, C-10 and B-10 – We applied a new design for this flagship system, with a Champagne gold finished symmetrical exterior and rose to the challenge of new technologies, such as the quadruple super ultimate attenuator, which spans a range of 456 fixed high precision resistors. This was adopted for C-10 and was popular amongst many audiophiles.

1999

World’s first ODNF incorporated into the CM-2100 power amp for in-car audio – After many years of development, a new feedback circuit was born and applied to power amplifiers for in-car audio. Everyone was surprised, as this product brought the same quality values as home audio to the car industry. This model became a reference model for many car dealerships and car audio magazines.

2001

Hi-end universal player DU-10 – The era-defining DU-10, Luxman’s first offering to the high-end universal audio player market, boldly challenging the wide open field of new music formats such as SACD and DVD audio with high audio quality.

2003

LUXMAN’s first fully-fledged multichannel system CU-80 & MU-80 – A motivational audio system that responds to the desire of music fans who want to enjoy not only surround sound as a home theatre playback, but also explore the uncompressed, high quality, multi-channel reproduction of SACD and DVD audio. Numerous ingenious channel settings gained a lot of attention.

2004

Vacuum tube amp CL-88 and MQ-88 with creative cutting edge design

After an 11 year hiatus since 1993, the CL-38 and MA-88 represent a return to vacuum tube separate amplifier development. These are rare examples, where the original design of conventional vacuum tube amplifiers were reconfigured and innovative proposals from the designer were adopted and mass produced.

2006

80th anniversary flagship models, the C-1000f & B-1000f – As flagship models to be renewed every ten years, this special series allowed for unprecedented investment and attention to production. Such was the confidence in the quality of these models that the development manager decided to obtain a full set for his home.

So now you have an idea of who Luxman are, you can understand why we are extremely happy to have on-board such an iconic and prestigious company. As most of you are aware, we don’t retail any brand until all the staff at Rapallo and our closest friends have put the components through their paces, so what is the criteria for such a brand of products

Build quality must be top of the pops… ie really top-class
Good Technical Support – this is vital to be able to support our customers
A reputable brand – we don’t stock brands that don’t have good reviews
And last but not least, the sound has to be pretty dang epic… just ask Bensan about his first use of the Luxman products

It’s safe to say Luxman excelled in all these requirements, the sound….oh the sound, whatever speaker we paired with the Luxman amplifier it just worked, ok let me break it down a little below with a really quick review of one of the products.

My Initial Review of the Luxman L-590AX MKII

To say the 590AX MKII is vivid & smooth is extremely underrated. Judging by the depth, layering and separation of instruments as well as very palpable and focused images it allows speakers to recreate across a broad and deep soundstage, there are very few if any compromises in this integrated amp’s design.

Major strengths are the smooth and musical Class A sound that is never grainy or harsh, it has plenty of power in reserve for crisp dynamic transient recreation, often with astounding impact and drive.

This is not just a 30/60w Class A but has been laboratory tested to put out 180w into 4 ohms and protection mode shutdown kicking in at 300w into 2 ohms… much more than the power handling rating of many speakers. The power supply is very robust in this integrated with rather large capacitive reserve for superb dynamic swings and transient response.

This integrated feels and sounds much more dynamic than the specifications would suggest. I could hear no hardening of tone or any grain showing though. In fact the any speaker we paired with the Luxman absolutely shined at all levels, the L-590 had absolute control over the speakers, and I was mesmerized with the VU meters happily bouncing to the beat of the drums.

The way this integrated draws me into music is on par with the very best separates I have owned or listened to and is in fact better than some I have owned in in similar price range in overall smoothness, tonal color saturation, spot on timbre and engaging presentation.

Whenever an amplifier comes to the store and is rated as a class A amplifier, immediately my brain compares it to one of my favorite amplifiers of all time and one that I owned for nearly 10years, the Krell KSA50s which is highly regarded in the Hi-Fi world, I honestly loooved my Krell never ever did it let me down or lack anything, It produced clarity and realism that was to me uncanny, and produced goose bumps every time

So you can imagine I am sometimes let down that new models from other manufacturer’s just lack that sparkle, and lack that emotion. The Luxman L-590AXII is as close if not better than the Krell, its soundstage and depth is truly exceptional, it has everything the KSA50s had but so much more.

I’m not going to compare all the previous amps I have owned as it is rather pointless to compare but let’s just say this is not the most expensive unit to ever grace the presence of Rapallo but it does make me wonder how much more money you have to spend to beat the Luxman. Can you really improve on perfect?

It is an amplifier that I am thrilled to listen to and honored to have within the walls of our store. I can say without question, the Luxman L590 is an absolute bargain I would say considering all the features and the sonic performance. Luxman absolutely and undoubtedly nailed it

Well done Luxman, well done!

View the Luxman Family