View Full Version : Luxman Meterage
I think I have 'almost' finally found what I was listening for...
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2726/4117944089_9374e292c3.jpg
Luxman L507f
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2536/4117944031_cf929a4623.jpg
Luxman L507f meters
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2492/4117943883_0973c41385.jpg
System w Luxman, NAS Interspace / Rega RB300 / Ortofon 2m Blue, Sonneteer Byron, Kimber cables, ATC SCM 35
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2652/4117943579_91ff3aee3b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2702/4117943805_77b0180d1b.jpg
NAS Interspace
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2525/4117944209_30985d7fd7.jpg
Again
Hi Halvis,
Welcome to AoS, and what a superb system! I love Luxman gear (the build quality is phenomenal), and the Sonneteer is a classic CDP :)
You've done the 'hard' bit by posting your system pictures, so come into the Welcome area and introduce yourself by saying a quick 'hello'.
What's your first name and where are you from? :cool:
Marco.
The Vinyl Adventure
20-11-2009, 00:37
"What's your name and where do you come from"... every time someone puts that on this forum, for some reason that Im unsure of, I read it in a Liverpudlian female accent in my head... ...
Hi 'halvis' , welcome to aos!
Hi both, I have just welcomed myself in the welcome area, as advised by Marco.
Thanks for the warm welcome.
The names Jon, living in Ireland with a faint B'ham accent. I'm off to get some kip now though.
Chat soon
The Vinyl Adventure
20-11-2009, 00:55
Hi jon, I'm a Worcester person ... And still here! Fortunatly the brummy accent only goes as far south as bromsgrove, so I'm free of such an afliction ;) hope you enjoy aos!
The Grand Wazoo
20-11-2009, 09:28
Hi Jon,
Welcome to AoS. Isn't it great to see Luxman still doing good things, building stuff the way it should be built?
You say:
I think I have 'almost' finally found what I was listening for...
So what would you change? Do you have plans?
Spectral Morn
20-11-2009, 10:27
Nice set up Jon
Regards D S D L
Hi Jon,
Welcome to AoS. Isn't it great to see Luxman still doing good things, building stuff the way it should be built?
You say:
So what would you change? Do you have plans?
Thanks for the welcome. It's been a long road with many turns finding a system I like for this room. I must have gone through over 10 amplifier combinations. Although, it was only recently that I actually knew what I wanted. You see my first pair of speakers for this room were Yamaha NS1000m speakers which can be very bright and revealing. I tired to tame this with warmer sounding sources and amps, but went too far. I realised this when I heard a friends mega bucks system. I took over my then LP12 and discovered just how coloured and romantic sounding they really are. This is all very nice, but until you hear an uncoloured system you cannot realise how much this romance gets in the way of the music.
So the LP12 went, which I did like as a 'thing' and would have liked to have kept it as a 2nd deck, but couldn't afford to. So I auditioned several other decks and came up with the NAS. I found a buyer for the speakers and thought if I am selling the speakers I may as well move on the amp (Electrocompaniet ECI-3) and start all over again. The Electro was again a very warm sounding amp.
So I ended up with what I have now, a little over budget as well. Still trying to shift some other stuff to pay for it all. Anyone want a telescope???
So what would I change, well I would like to move to a nicer arm for NAS one day. I would like to try and SME 4 or 5, as they have always been a favourite or if not a nice uni-pivot. Of course the cartridge as well, but I am not gonna put megabucks into a cartridge with a mad 4 yr old daughter wild in the house. Need a good hifi support system as well, the last one got left behind in the UK. This can now be purchased now I know what I am sticking with.
The Luxman was purchased because I wanted an amp that I could fit and forget about for a very long time. It's not as lush sounding as you may imagine. It's very dynamic and transparent sounding, it presents layers upon layers more music than any other amp I tried. Plus it has everything built in, phono stage (quieter than my last PureSound P10, but perhaps not as tonally rich), tone controls and headphone amp.
The ATC's are also known for their transparency and are famously hard to drive well. I think the Luxman moves 'em pretty good though. When you first get them, you just want to crank 'em up. But, soon you learn to listen to them at more sensible volumes. You don't get all the dynamics but I have found a nice compromise. Way more detailed than the Yam's ever were though, which may surprise some people.
So, not too many plans to change much now. I have done most of that, I want to concentrate more on the music now.
The Grand Wazoo
20-11-2009, 10:48
So, not too many plans to change much now. I have done most of that, I want to concentrate more on the music now.
Great stuff!
It's interesting how we all eventually come to realise that trading off one set of colourations with another set to balance things out is unsatisfying in the long term.
Colourations per se are not necessarily a disaster - as long as it sounds good to you, that's the thing.
Colourations per se are not necessarily a disaster - as long as it sounds good to you, that's the thing.
I agree. That's what got me onto the Electro, with a pair of Triangle speakers I auditioned it with, it sounded bloody beautiful. This was fine for certain types of genre, but not all. As I listen to a wide range of music, I came to the conclusion that neutral is the safest route for me.
Very nice system Jon and very nice attitude towards listening to music, too, imho. ;)
Thanks Themis!
Love the Neil Young quote (he is wiser than he looks)!!!
Primalsea
22-11-2009, 15:05
I'm glad to see that no one here complained about the VU meters. I just dont understand why some people claim that if its got meters its not real hifi. I could stare at the things for hours. Of course never mind that they're quite useful in diagnosing problems ie if your meters are moving but there's no sound then you know its not your source.
I'm glad to see that no one here complained about the VU meters. I just dont understand why some people claim that if its got meters its not real hifi. I could stare at the things for hours. Of course never mind that they're quite useful in diagnosing problems ie if your meters are moving but there's no sound then you know its not your source.
We all love a bit of bling on AoS Paul! I long for VU meters one day, preferably on a nice retro Rotel receiver. They look mighty fine on Jon's amp!
VU meters rule (especially when they're on kit as gorgeous as Luxman), and like Paul says, they have a practical purpose, too! :)
Marco.
All change here, except the speakers. I have joined the Technics massive, having been tempted for a while now. I picked up a nice 1210 mk2 with Jelco 750. A mate has lent me a Denon 110 to go on it and its sounding very nice. With only the standard mat its sounding quite sophisticated already. I know the PSU is supposed to be the first upgrade, but I got a good deal with the arm so started with that. Its certainly a fine and well built arm and looks great too.
Also changed the amp to match my ATC speakers - a new ATC SIA2-150. Much better control and dynamics, plus it holds onto the bass drivers better. An older Sony CD player has replaced the Sonneteer Byron. It has a great transport, but I suspect the DAC is the weak point. Next a new DAC then, mate has a Gen (whatever) Theta, so looking forward to giving that a go if he'll let me.
Overall, a slightly warmer presentation than before which is easier to listen to but actually has more Slam and dynamics.
I'm glad to see that no one here complained about the VU meters. I just dont understand why some people claim that if its got meters its not real hifi. I could stare at the things for hours. Of course never mind that they're quite useful in diagnosing problems ie if your meters are moving but there's no sound then you know its not your source.
Without wishing to detract from the superb build quality and design of Luxman gear, I do have to say that in my opinion (so-called) VU meters or power meters, have neither any place, nor are they of any use. They are just a gimmick and at worse distracting. Their ballistics (or rise time) are just too slow to realistically display peak power and ultimately they are a waste of money; no professional amplifier that I know of employ them.
Nice gear nonetheless.
Regards
I could stare at the things for hours.
Me too. ;)
I grew up with tapes, I can't live without VU meters... :o
chris@panteg
25-04-2010, 11:22
Hi Jon
So you have gone from a NAS to the Techie ' well your are going to want the Timestep psu and a Mike New bearing for starter's :)
Hi Chris,
The NAS was upgraded to a Technics via a Rega P25 and unfortunately a direct A/B was not possible with any of these. Also, the deck was sold to fund the new amp, so my system has changed somewhat since it had the NAS in.
However, I can say that so far I am not missing the NAS. The reason I decided to sell it was because it sounded too much like my CD player but generally not as good. The Technics is actually better at portraying the music as a whole, joining it together better if you know what I mean. It actually has less slam and attack than the NAS, which could be down to cartridge - Ortofon 2m on NAS and Denon DL110 on Technics. I don't think its lacking detail though, infact I think there maybe more - seem to be hear more subtleties in the recording without being over analytical. It just flows man!
I do have a new PSU on my wish list, bearing is further down that also. I just want to listen for a while though and stop spending for a bit. There so much good music out there at the moment as well, I need to buy some.
Hi Barry,
Without wishing to detract from the superb build quality and design of Luxman gear, I do have to say that in my opinion (so-called) VU meters or power meters, have neither any place, nor are they of any use. They are just a gimmick and at worse distracting. Their ballistics (or rise time) are just too slow to realistically display peak power and ultimately they are a waste of money; no professional amplifier that I know of employ them.
I agree in terms of amplifiers, but when it comes to tape decks, I think it's different.
VU meters, IMO, are much more effective at determining accurate recording levels than some spurious and indistinct coloured flashing lights :)
YMMV.
Marco.
Hi Barry,
I agree in terms of amplifiers, but when it comes to tape decks, I think it's different.
VU meters, IMO, are much more effective at determining accurate recording levels than some spurious and indistinct coloured flashing lights :)
YMMV.
Marco.
Hi Marco,
I was referring to power meters on amplifiers. These, apart from looking pretty, are of very little use.
Some sort of level meters are of course necessary on tape machines. What is important however is the ballistics of the meter, regardless whether it is a conventional meter with a needle against a scale, or a 'bar-graph' display. Ideally these devices need to have a fast attack and a slow decay; that way transient peaks are noted.
The VU meter, often used, does not have this response, despite being much used in recording studios. What is preferred is the more expensive Peak Programme Meter (PPM), developed by the BBC. This is a quasi-peak reading meter (rather than an rms or average, as used in VU meters), which has a very fast attack (5-10ms) and slow decay (2-3s). To be specific, it has a logarithmic scale 0 - 7 (though '7.5' is marked), each division representing 4dB. '0VU' or 0dBm (now called 0dBu) occurs at PPM4. Studio levels are adjusted by the BBC, so that they peak at PPM6.
I once had a Sony cassette deck that used a PPM bar-graph display. It was very easy to use and prevented over recording, overall was much better than the bar-graph displays used on the later Nakamichi's. It was also much larger in terms of front panel 'real estate' than most. I believe there was a Sony reel-to-reel machine that also used the same display.
Regards
twelvebears
26-04-2010, 19:10
I'm glad to see that no one here complained about the VU meters. I just dont understand why some people claim that if its got meters its not real hifi. I could stare at the things for hours. Of course never mind that they're quite useful in diagnosing problems ie if your meters are moving but there's no sound then you know its not your source.
Personally I LOVE VU meters. I remember staring hypnotised by the meters on a big old beast of a Technics power amp in HiFi shop many years ago hen I was just a nipper.... *sigh*
hifi_dave
26-04-2010, 19:28
Personally I lurve meters, all forms of controls, knobs, sliders and grab handles but it's not strictly 'hi-fi' is it ?
A customer brought a Luxman in for a demo a couple of weeks ago and the meters were quite a distraction to me, not because they were moving but because the right hand meter was always a bit up on the left. It was driving me mad but whatever the LP, disc or volume level, the right hand was always in advance of the left..:stalks:
There might be some way to calibrate it but I couldn't see anything obvious...:scratch:
A customer brought a Luxman in for a demo a couple of weeks ago and the meters were quite a distraction to me, not because they were moving but because the right hand meter was always a bit up on the left. It was driving me mad but whatever the LP, disc or volume level, the right hand was always in advance of the left..:stalks:
Mine did that, always the right higher than the left as well! No way I could find to calibrate it either.
Very nice set-up there, Jon. I'm partial to a bit of Luxman meterage myself (oooerrrr missus) and for those evenings where you're not in the mood you can always turn them off. ;)
Very nice set-up there, Jon.
Oh, its gone Nick, replaced with an ATC integrated instead. The Luxman didn't drive my speakers properly unfortunately, otherwise it would have stayed. I did consider keeping it and changing the speakers, but the speakers work well in my room so it was the safer bet to keep them.
Oh, its gone Nick, replaced with an ATC integrated instead. The Luxman didn't drive my speakers properly unfortunately, otherwise it would have stayed. I did consider keeping it and changing the speakers, but the speakers work well in my room so it was the safer bet to keep them.
Well Jon, a man has to do what a man has to do.
I managed to totally miss the post where you detailed the changes, I really need to wake up sometimes ! :D
I hope the ATC fills the spot nicely. :)
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