Luxman 507ux

Andrew Stenhouse

New Member
Feb 14, 2016
171
1
0
Sydney, Australia
I picked up one of these:

View attachment 26304

up for my Harbeth 30.1's.

View attachment 26334

I suppose I have a few hundred hours up on it now. I like it - alot. Extremely well screwed together, high value count and very well engineered. Value for money plus.

Tocks all the boxes I wanted: Tone controls (?) Loudness button (?) heaps of welly (?) great tone (?) very good MC phono stage (?), great headphone stage (?) and ....a remote (?).

I am using a Delos on the end of a Bauer/Ayre dps + dps tonearm and find the phono a great match to the Lyra. I'm struggling to think of what else in the integrated line of amplifiers under, at a guess, 10k that would touch this. It is a cracker. I much prefer its warmth to eg a Devialet - which I have also experienced/owned/sold.

I owned a A550 II years ago and found it too rich in sound - like syrupy tubes. Not like crisp tubes, if you know what I mean. Not so the 507 ux. It sounds like a warm-ish SS or a crisp-ish tube amp. But with half decent bottom end.

The phono in the 550A II was very ho-hum as I recall it - easily bettered by eg a Dyna P75 in current mode. Not so this phono. I feel I would have to enter some serious spend to better the integrated phono. I have a sense it would take alot of cartridge. I'll try and borrow an Atlas for a week or two (not my favourite cart) and see how it sounds. No one is lending out their Etna...

Matches the 30.1's very well. I bought (and returned) a PassLabs Int 60 to use with my Eclipse TD 712's - that was a very good amplifier, apart from relative lack of power, and no phono. I eventually sold my TD's to a mate precisely because I got sick of looking for an amplifier that would control them properly. I found one - a Gato 400 but like all Class D's I have heard (and I certainly haven't heard them all) it didn't do soundstage very well. My mate has..you guessed it - a Luxxie 507ux and lo and behold it is a perfect match. And he isn't giving them back.....

The 507 ux suffers no real defect I can think of at anything like the spend.

So moral of this tale is you can get great sound without spending a Czar's ransom. Pair the 507ux with some TD 712's (amazing speaker that) or something like Harbeth 30.1's (with Stillpoints, the best speaker Harbeth make, IMO) and you are done and dusted for around 10 or 12k (or whatever it is in The Donald-land). Just add a source de jour.

Well done Luxman. Hit one out of the park with this amplifier. No - its isn't a Diablo 300; but it is modestly priced in comparison.

ps - its got cool blue VU meters!
 
Last edited:

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Manila, Philippines
What's "welly"? :)
 

Johnny Vinyl

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
May 16, 2010
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Andrew Stenhouse

New Member
Feb 14, 2016
171
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Sydney, Australia
Oh, apologies gentleman - "welly" = power. It has lots of power, or it is a powerful integrated, or it has power in reserve.

As in "give it some welly" which means increase power to an engine by eg pressing the accelerator (gas) pedal. A British slang term commonly used in NZ as well.

@ Johnny - you are quite right - rubber gumboots are called "Wellingtons" in the UK/NZ or "Wellies" for short. In the UK, if memory serves me correctly, the horse and hound brigade favoured green wellingtons, hence "Green Wellies" denoting belonging to or aspiring to belong to a certain class structure but has slipped in more recent times to denoting someone of more genteel persuasion.
 

Cooler King

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2015
14
1
235
U.K.
I would agree with all of that from the op. I bought a 507uX last November with some Harbeth P3ESR's (my room is exceptionally small!).
I worked in an independent hi-fi shop in the UK for over a decade and owned loads of kit...but I love this to pieces and can't think of anything I'd rather have in its place, given the size of room and requirements. It's a wonderful match with the Harbeth's and I would recommend a listen for anyone interested in a fully featured, but retro looking package, which happens to be built to extremely high standards.

Bravo Luxman....
 

LarsS

New Member
Nov 11, 2014
69
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Stockholm
Nice amp,

had Luxman separates in the late 70's, beautiful looking w. VU's, think it was Luxman C75 & M150 or something similar. Replaced them with GAS Thaedra & Ampzilla.
 

Cooler King

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2015
14
1
235
U.K.
Having now lived with this amp for just over a year, I'm wanting to make sure I'm getting the best from it. Currently I have a microRendu, Mutec, Chord 2Qute and Thorens 125, Jelco 10" arm and Soundsmith Carmen as front ends. The interconnect from the DAC is an Audioquest Columbia. What I'm thinking of is better speaker cable to my Harbeth P3ESR's. I'm using just something that I had lying around in a box I have, Dali Python I think. Does anyone have a recommendation for cable that'll be an improvement from the Dali please? I like detail, but without harshness or any hardness... any thoughts would be very welcome, thank you.
 

fourxmotion

New Member
Jan 19, 2017
4
0
0
I have the L-507uX mated to Aerial 7T speakers. I use Cable Pro Vitality Speaker Cables. They are a really nice OCC copper cable. They provide nice detail without being harsh or bright.
 

Cooler King

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2015
14
1
235
U.K.
I have the L-507uX mated to Aerial 7T speakers. I use Cable Pro Vitality Speaker Cables. They are a really nice OCC copper cable. They provide nice detail without being harsh or bright.

Thank you for that. Cable Pro isn't a brand I'm familiar with, don't know if they're available in the U.K. I'll have a look. I also have a chance to get some Audioquest at a very good price, anyone have any thoughts on this please?
 

fourxmotion

New Member
Jan 19, 2017
4
0
0
I have never tried Audioquest cables. I did use the Audience Au-24 line with my system for awhile. They are very good too.
 

TuanSFC

New Member
Feb 10, 2019
1
1
1
64
I would agree with all of that from the op. I bought a 507uX last November with some Harbeth P3ESR's (my room is exceptionally small!).
I worked in an independent hi-fi shop in the UK for over a decade and owned loads of kit...but I love this to pieces and can't think of anything I'd rather have in its place, given the size of room and requirements. It's a wonderful match with the Harbeth's and I would recommend a listen for anyone interested in a fully featured, but retro looking package, which happens to be built to extremely high standards.

Bravo Luxman....

Hi Cooler King:

I'm new to the Harberth's and like to have your advice on my choice of Super HL5 Plus to pairing with Luxman L-507uX. My room size is 4mW x 4.5mL x 3mH.

Thank you
Tuan Tran (from Vietnam)
 
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