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FEBRUARY 2010
The first audio system that I owned that could marginally be referred to as
“high end” was built around a Luxman integrated amplifier. I don’t
remember the exact model number, but I do remember that it looked like
an L-3. It had four knobs at the left side of the fascia, a row of
pushbuttons, and the volume knob at the right. As I recall, it was rated at
50WPC. I purchased it used in the early-1980s. (I found this L-3 photo
at www.hifigoteborg.se)
The Luxman was fed by a Rega Planar 2 with an Adcom moving coil
cartridge. The speakers that I used were originally built from kits, but
over time I refined the parts and design as I got some test equipment and
learned more about what I was doing.
This was the first system that I had that actually “imaged.” By that I
mean that I got a center image floating completely free of the speakers. It
was very exciting.
I added an Adcom 545 amplifier to this system, using the Luxman as a
preamp. I felt that this improved the sound further.
I then sold the Luxman and bought an Adcom SLC 505 passive controller.
I used the Adcom for quite a few years, very happily, until I found a Theta
B Revised tube preamp, whose performance changed my entire audio
outlook.
The Luxman is the only component that I have owned that I actually
regret selling.
I was browsing Craigslist in early January when I found an ad for a Luxman
L-480 integrated amp and T-115 tuner. The ad had been on Craigslist for
several days before I found it. The pair looked beautiful even in the small
ad photo and the seller represented the pair as in excellent working
condition. I emailed him and he called me the next morning to say he still
had the pair. I went over to his house to see them.
Thanks to the fact that the seller refused to ship the pair, I was able to
buy them. He told me he had had several offers for the pair but all were
from out of town.
I listened to them briefly at his home with the tuner feeding the amp; they
sounded great so I paid the $200* he was asking and whisked them
home. (In looking around for information on the L-480/T-115, I found
that they had sold new for $500 each, around 1980.)
DESCRIPTION
The L-480 is definitely “full featured.” It not only has tone controls, it has
variable turnover points for them. It also allows them to be bypassed.
There are two tape circuits and the preamp and amp can be separated by
removing jumpers on the rear panel. While it has inputs for both moving
coil and moving magnet phone cartridges, it only has two line inputs;
these are marked tuner and aux. There are also variable sub-sonic filters
and a mode switch. The mode switch allows for stereo, reverse stereo,
and mono. I really like the row of red lights that show the power output
(70WPC). They can be turned off but I have to admit that I enjoy
watching them flash.
The T-115 tuner has a digital readout and automatically seeks the next
tunable channel when one of the large tuning buttons is pushed. It also
has a red signal strength readout echoing that of the amp’s power
output. Given the poor FM reception where I live I have not played with
the tuner yet.
LISTENING AND TWEAKING
Before I put the L-480 in my living room system, I checked the chassis to
ground voltage. The Luxman does not have a polarized AC cord. I
measured 63 Volts in one orientation and 45 in the other. I marked the
AC plug with some red nail polish indicating the lower voltage orientation.
(I prefer the sonic balance of Almay's "Red Abandon.")
I put the L-480 in my living room system and made up some bi-wire
speaker wires from my remaining stock of Monster XP-1 wire. The major
drawback to using equipment of this vintage is the speaker connectors.
The Luxman’s would not even accept a double thickness of XP-1. I was
able to cobble up some cables that worked well enough, however, to do
some listening through my Quad 21L2 speakers.
Even with the XP-1 wires, the Luxman sounded extremely good. I listened
to a lot of female vocal, jazz, solo instrument, and small classical ensemble
CDs. The amp is well balanced and has good bass impact. The midrange
is warm and it images very well. The soundstage is wide but not quite as
deep as I have heard in this system.
The L-480, like many Luxman integrated amps and receivers, allows the
preamp and amp sections to be separated. They are linked, on my unit,
with some short RCA jumpers. I replaced these with some short DH Labs
BL-1 cables that I had used with my Dahlquist crossover. These have
Eichmann copper RCA plugs on the ends.
I felt that there was a worthwhile improvement in the focus of the sound
with these cables, resulting in somewhat improved soundstage depth and
definition.
The next tweak I tried was replacing the Luxman’s fuses. It uses two 5
Amp fuses, one per channel. Seemingly, contradictorily, Luxman rates the
amplifier’s current draw overall at only 3.5 Amps. While I am not sure how
Luxman determined the fuse value, it would appear that 4 Amp fuses
should work fine. Since I had the pair of HiFi-Tuning 4 Amp fuses left
from my Magneplanar MG10 speakers, I decided to try them in the Luxman.
The result was another worthwhile improvement in the sound quality.
Listening to Chris Botti’s version of “Funny Valentine,” there was a clearer
sense of the air flowing through and out of his trumpet. The delicate
cymbal playing in the right channel had better detail and was less
subdued. There was a better sense of the acoustic space as well. (This is
a live recording. Legends of Jazz, LRS Media 968700)
Diana Krall’s voice on The Look of Love CD (Verve 3145498462) was
somewhat richer, fuller, but just as lovely with the upgrade fuses.
Famous Encores by Quartetto Telemann, a Goodwill store find, features a
flute, oboe, cello, and guitar. This, to me, unlikely group of instruments
offers amazing performances of such standards as Schubert’s “Ave Maria,”
the Largo from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, Gershwin’s “Summertime,” and
other well known excerpts and short pieces. The real fun, though, is
found in the Suite from Snow White—the Disney film. The bouncy quality
of “Whistle While You Work” was conveyed extremely well by the Luxman.
It just amazes me how these four instruments can mimic a full orchestra
so well. A really fun CD. (Milan Vlcek SY 0011-2 131)
At this point that I connected the preamp of the Luxman to my VTL 50-50
tube power amp.
This combination also sounds very good—it certainly benefits from being
able to use far better speaker cables. As you might expect, imaging is
excellent and vocals have the richness and body associated with tubes.
While the bass is just as deep, it is, perhaps, not quite as dynamic and
quick as with the Luxman’s own amp. The nice surprise of this
combination is how quiet it is, virtually as quiet as the Luxman alone.
I spent some time listening to The New Jazz Divas, a compilation CD with
thirteen songs by different female vocalists. I purchased it because I was
curious to hear what Melody Gardot’s voice was like. The Luxman/VTL
combination did a great job, as might be expected, extracting the nuances
and subtleties associated with each of the female voices. (SHOUT/NPR
826663-11695)
I have been working to replace one set of the L-480’s speaker connectors
with banana jacks so that I can connect my Alpha Core Goertz MI2
speaker cables to the Luxman itself. It will then be possible to hear more
accurately just what the L-480 sounds like with its own amp versus the
VTL. I have found the parts I need and will report on how things work out
in a follow-up to this article.
Playing with the Luxman amp has been fun as well as entertaining. I have
often wondered how some of the equipment I have owned would sound if
heard with the quality of cables available today. In this case, I can actually
do it. So far, the Luxman has shown itself to be as good as I could have
ever expected.
MARTHA STEWART IS NO MUSIC LOVER
January has been doctor and dentist month for me. I have had so many
different appointments this month that it has wreaked havoc with getting
any real work done at all.
Yesterday, I was sitting in the gastroenterologist’s waiting room and the
only things I could find to read were some back issues of Martha Stewart
Living. I opened to an article about reducing clutter as a way to start the
New Year. One of the suggestions was to transfer all of your CDs to your
MP3 player and then give them away to a library or nursing home. It
absolutely appalled me that anyone would think that transferring CDs to
the lowest quality format available and then not even keeping them in case
you changed your mind was actually a good idea.
When a music collection is considered “clutter,” will books be far behind?
Have a happy Groundhog’s Day.
Kent Johnson
January 27, 2010
Click here for the equipment being used in my living room/second system.
*Since buying my Luxman pair, there have been four sales of L-480
amplifiers on eBay. They have sold for $232.50, $177.50, $175.00, and
$169.50 plus shipping. As you might expect, I feel pretty good about the
deal I got.
UPDATE
I have finished my speaker connector modification of the L-480. I used
some inexpensive banana jacks from Radio Shack (274-725B) and a blank
plastic outlet cover to replace the existing remote speaker connectors.
Total cost was under $7.
The RS jacks have minimal metal content, which I think is good. Most of
the jacks I looked at were too bulky and too long. They would have
projected into the Luxman too far and caused issues with the heat
sinking. These jacks had no issues that way.
The blank outlet cover's mounting holes are on the same 3.25 inch
centers as the existing speaker connectors on the back of the Luxman.
This meant that I only had to adjust the width of the cover to fit it to
the back of the amp.
Here are photos of the front and back of the modified cover with the jacks
in place.
Removing the old speaker connector strip is very easy. It is held with two
screws and the connecting wires are long enough to move it around.
Here is a photo of the old connector prior to desoldering it. The green
wire is L+, the gray L-, the black R-, and the yellow, R+. Note that
Luxman used only 20 gauge wire! I may go back and replace this wire as
well as some of the electrolytic caps at some point.
I'll spare you the details of actually fitting my new mounting plate but it
went well overall. In addition to making it narrower, I also had to notch
out for two screws on the back. My Dremel tool took care of that.
If I am not the worlds' worst solderer, I am definitely in the top ten. I
tinned both the speaker wires and jacks and got pretty decent looking
connections that seem to be electrically and mechanically sound, however.
Here is a look at the back of the Luxman with everything done. The
speaker cables are Alpha Core Goertz MI2s in the new jacks. The blue
wires to the right are my DH Labs short jumpers. At the far right are
DH Labs Revelation interconnects coming from the Sony SACD player.
I think the Luxman sounds quite good with all of its tweaks. It is nice to
be able to connect some good quality speaker wires to it. Overall, it was
an easy conversion. The problem, as always, was finding parts that can
be adapted to a use for which they were never intended.
Kent Johnson
February 7, 2010
February 7, 2010
The first audio system that I owned that could marginally be referred to as
“high end” was built around a Luxman integrated amplifier. I don’t
remember the exact model number, but I do remember that it looked like
an L-3. It had four knobs at the left side of the fascia, a row of
pushbuttons, and the volume knob at the right. As I recall, it was rated at
50WPC. I purchased it used in the early-1980s. (I found this L-3 photo
at www.hifigoteborg.se)
The Luxman was fed by a Rega Planar 2 with an Adcom moving coil
cartridge. The speakers that I used were originally built from kits, but
over time I refined the parts and design as I got some test equipment and
learned more about what I was doing.
This was the first system that I had that actually “imaged.” By that I
mean that I got a center image floating completely free of the speakers. It
was very exciting.
I added an Adcom 545 amplifier to this system, using the Luxman as a
preamp. I felt that this improved the sound further.
I then sold the Luxman and bought an Adcom SLC 505 passive controller.
I used the Adcom for quite a few years, very happily, until I found a Theta
B Revised tube preamp, whose performance changed my entire audio
outlook.
The Luxman is the only component that I have owned that I actually
regret selling.
I was browsing Craigslist in early January when I found an ad for a Luxman
L-480 integrated amp and T-115 tuner. The ad had been on Craigslist for
several days before I found it. The pair looked beautiful even in the small
ad photo and the seller represented the pair as in excellent working
condition. I emailed him and he called me the next morning to say he still
had the pair. I went over to his house to see them.
Thanks to the fact that the seller refused to ship the pair, I was able to
buy them. He told me he had had several offers for the pair but all were
from out of town.
I listened to them briefly at his home with the tuner feeding the amp; they
sounded great so I paid the $200* he was asking and whisked them
home. (In looking around for information on the L-480/T-115, I found
that they had sold new for $500 each, around 1980.)
DESCRIPTION
The L-480 is definitely “full featured.” It not only has tone controls, it has
variable turnover points for them. It also allows them to be bypassed.
There are two tape circuits and the preamp and amp can be separated by
removing jumpers on the rear panel. While it has inputs for both moving
coil and moving magnet phone cartridges, it only has two line inputs;
these are marked tuner and aux. There are also variable sub-sonic filters
and a mode switch. The mode switch allows for stereo, reverse stereo,
and mono. I really like the row of red lights that show the power output
(70WPC). They can be turned off but I have to admit that I enjoy
watching them flash.
The T-115 tuner has a digital readout and automatically seeks the next
tunable channel when one of the large tuning buttons is pushed. It also
has a red signal strength readout echoing that of the amp’s power
output. Given the poor FM reception where I live I have not played with
the tuner yet.
LISTENING AND TWEAKING
Before I put the L-480 in my living room system, I checked the chassis to
ground voltage. The Luxman does not have a polarized AC cord. I
measured 63 Volts in one orientation and 45 in the other. I marked the
AC plug with some red nail polish indicating the lower voltage orientation.
(I prefer the sonic balance of Almay's "Red Abandon.")
I put the L-480 in my living room system and made up some bi-wire
speaker wires from my remaining stock of Monster XP-1 wire. The major
drawback to using equipment of this vintage is the speaker connectors.
The Luxman’s would not even accept a double thickness of XP-1. I was
able to cobble up some cables that worked well enough, however, to do
some listening through my Quad 21L2 speakers.
Even with the XP-1 wires, the Luxman sounded extremely good. I listened
to a lot of female vocal, jazz, solo instrument, and small classical ensemble
CDs. The amp is well balanced and has good bass impact. The midrange
is warm and it images very well. The soundstage is wide but not quite as
deep as I have heard in this system.
The L-480, like many Luxman integrated amps and receivers, allows the
preamp and amp sections to be separated. They are linked, on my unit,
with some short RCA jumpers. I replaced these with some short DH Labs
BL-1 cables that I had used with my Dahlquist crossover. These have
Eichmann copper RCA plugs on the ends.
I felt that there was a worthwhile improvement in the focus of the sound
with these cables, resulting in somewhat improved soundstage depth and
definition.
The next tweak I tried was replacing the Luxman’s fuses. It uses two 5
Amp fuses, one per channel. Seemingly, contradictorily, Luxman rates the
amplifier’s current draw overall at only 3.5 Amps. While I am not sure how
Luxman determined the fuse value, it would appear that 4 Amp fuses
should work fine. Since I had the pair of HiFi-Tuning 4 Amp fuses left
from my Magneplanar MG10 speakers, I decided to try them in the Luxman.
The result was another worthwhile improvement in the sound quality.
Listening to Chris Botti’s version of “Funny Valentine,” there was a clearer
sense of the air flowing through and out of his trumpet. The delicate
cymbal playing in the right channel had better detail and was less
subdued. There was a better sense of the acoustic space as well. (This is
a live recording. Legends of Jazz, LRS Media 968700)
Diana Krall’s voice on The Look of Love CD (Verve 3145498462) was
somewhat richer, fuller, but just as lovely with the upgrade fuses.
Famous Encores by Quartetto Telemann, a Goodwill store find, features a
flute, oboe, cello, and guitar. This, to me, unlikely group of instruments
offers amazing performances of such standards as Schubert’s “Ave Maria,”
the Largo from Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, Gershwin’s “Summertime,” and
other well known excerpts and short pieces. The real fun, though, is
found in the Suite from Snow White—the Disney film. The bouncy quality
of “Whistle While You Work” was conveyed extremely well by the Luxman.
It just amazes me how these four instruments can mimic a full orchestra
so well. A really fun CD. (Milan Vlcek SY 0011-2 131)
At this point that I connected the preamp of the Luxman to my VTL 50-50
tube power amp.
This combination also sounds very good—it certainly benefits from being
able to use far better speaker cables. As you might expect, imaging is
excellent and vocals have the richness and body associated with tubes.
While the bass is just as deep, it is, perhaps, not quite as dynamic and
quick as with the Luxman’s own amp. The nice surprise of this
combination is how quiet it is, virtually as quiet as the Luxman alone.
I spent some time listening to The New Jazz Divas, a compilation CD with
thirteen songs by different female vocalists. I purchased it because I was
curious to hear what Melody Gardot’s voice was like. The Luxman/VTL
combination did a great job, as might be expected, extracting the nuances
and subtleties associated with each of the female voices. (SHOUT/NPR
826663-11695)
I have been working to replace one set of the L-480’s speaker connectors
with banana jacks so that I can connect my Alpha Core Goertz MI2
speaker cables to the Luxman itself. It will then be possible to hear more
accurately just what the L-480 sounds like with its own amp versus the
VTL. I have found the parts I need and will report on how things work out
in a follow-up to this article.
Playing with the Luxman amp has been fun as well as entertaining. I have
often wondered how some of the equipment I have owned would sound if
heard with the quality of cables available today. In this case, I can actually
do it. So far, the Luxman has shown itself to be as good as I could have
ever expected.
MARTHA STEWART IS NO MUSIC LOVER
January has been doctor and dentist month for me. I have had so many
different appointments this month that it has wreaked havoc with getting
any real work done at all.
Yesterday, I was sitting in the gastroenterologist’s waiting room and the
only things I could find to read were some back issues of Martha Stewart
Living. I opened to an article about reducing clutter as a way to start the
New Year. One of the suggestions was to transfer all of your CDs to your
MP3 player and then give them away to a library or nursing home. It
absolutely appalled me that anyone would think that transferring CDs to
the lowest quality format available and then not even keeping them in case
you changed your mind was actually a good idea.
When a music collection is considered “clutter,” will books be far behind?
Have a happy Groundhog’s Day.
Kent Johnson
January 27, 2010
Click here for the equipment being used in my living room/second system.
*Since buying my Luxman pair, there have been four sales of L-480
amplifiers on eBay. They have sold for $232.50, $177.50, $175.00, and
$169.50 plus shipping. As you might expect, I feel pretty good about the
deal I got.
UPDATE
I have finished my speaker connector modification of the L-480. I used
some inexpensive banana jacks from Radio Shack (274-725B) and a blank
plastic outlet cover to replace the existing remote speaker connectors.
Total cost was under $7.
The RS jacks have minimal metal content, which I think is good. Most of
the jacks I looked at were too bulky and too long. They would have
projected into the Luxman too far and caused issues with the heat
sinking. These jacks had no issues that way.
The blank outlet cover's mounting holes are on the same 3.25 inch
centers as the existing speaker connectors on the back of the Luxman.
This meant that I only had to adjust the width of the cover to fit it to
the back of the amp.
Here are photos of the front and back of the modified cover with the jacks
in place.
Removing the old speaker connector strip is very easy. It is held with two
screws and the connecting wires are long enough to move it around.
Here is a photo of the old connector prior to desoldering it. The green
wire is L+, the gray L-, the black R-, and the yellow, R+. Note that
Luxman used only 20 gauge wire! I may go back and replace this wire as
well as some of the electrolytic caps at some point.
I'll spare you the details of actually fitting my new mounting plate but it
went well overall. In addition to making it narrower, I also had to notch
out for two screws on the back. My Dremel tool took care of that.
If I am not the worlds' worst solderer, I am definitely in the top ten. I
tinned both the speaker wires and jacks and got pretty decent looking
connections that seem to be electrically and mechanically sound, however.
Here is a look at the back of the Luxman with everything done. The
speaker cables are Alpha Core Goertz MI2s in the new jacks. The blue
wires to the right are my DH Labs short jumpers. At the far right are
DH Labs Revelation interconnects coming from the Sony SACD player.
I think the Luxman sounds quite good with all of its tweaks. It is nice to
be able to connect some good quality speaker wires to it. Overall, it was
an easy conversion. The problem, as always, was finding parts that can
be adapted to a use for which they were never intended.
Kent Johnson
February 7, 2010
February 7, 2010