Home Audio BARGAIN: He Bought a Legendary LUXMAN Stereo Receiver for $430 USD
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- Home Audio BARGAIN: Luxman is a high-end audio brand that costs a premium. But what if you can get your hands on one for $430? More specifically the Luxman R-117 receiver
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I'm 40 and got one of these when I was 13. It was 3 years old, no remote, missing first present button. It really did change my life. Came with 101dB/w Acoustic research speakers. Everything looked cheap, but none of my constabularies had a considerable rival. Now I'm addicted to stereo.
I feel really old when you call the 80s a vintage era, Jay.
80's is also not true vintage, like the 70's where everything was analog with no control logic and thick aluminum front plates and cadmium coated enclosures. The 80's gave us feather touch control thin front plates or even plastic and thin gauge lacquered enclosures. The 80's sound was getting better on average and capacitors where getting more reliable (most 80's equipment does not need a recap) but the build quality was starting to slip. Let's call it semi vintage which makes us semi old ;)
Was just going to say that lol.
My dad's 2001 Oldsmobile qualifies for Antique Vehicle plates
Me too !
I absolutely love my R-117. I've got it paired to the companion M-117 power amp which is basically my dream setup. Thank you so much for a great video on this legendary receiver!
I just bought this receiver a few weeks ago. It sounds great!
This receiver is vastly superior to any of crap people are being offered today. Audio has become an afterthought to video.
Sadly your correct
@@MrPINKFL0YD People just buy a sound bar and call it a day, lol.
Luxman made this model into the 1990s.
I’m with you on this 100 per cent! My everyday amplifier is a Sansui AU-555a that I bought, brand new, in the summer of 1972. Though I have an order in for a Bottlehead SET amplifier kit, I still love the Sansui as much as I did the day I bought it!
hey Chris ! Quick question - I once own a AU -555a ... But I have found some, missing a "feature/benefit". Does Yours have a Sub Out ? I distinctly remember the Instruction Manuel said that the Sub Out was at150 hz (It also stated; that the Sound at those frequencies would be Omni-directional. Today most would say 100hz is closer to the truth. While our friends at THX say 120hz ! LOL )
btw - I Special Ordered mine fom the PX in Bien Hoa, Vietnam.
I also use vintage equipment and love them ( pioneer SX1250 and 750 among others.) but when I got my first tube integrated ( Willsenton R8) it changed everything in my journey. A change for the positive.
@@RoaroftheTiger I’ll take a look, but I don’t remember a “sub out” connection…
Seems like tubes are able to best the best vintage SS
I have two of these beauties. Powers my Dahlquist speakers without sweating. Truly one of the best ever, hard to argue that assessment of the R117.
Very Nice Receiver Indeed, Looking out for one for my channel
Certainly is
Michael, excellent choice but that's not "budget" any more.
I have a mint one ...it replaced my Sansui 9090db that i blew uo in the 80's had that fixed 5 yrs ago so I now have both very happy !
i just got one of the r115 receivers and i agree,even as a novice collector for years i can tell you this unit is a Complete level Above the rest i have.
also,total shock,i scored it for 20 bucks along with a Big set of hitachi vintage speakers that arent doing it justice.
paid 20 for the speakers...to be fair,i bought all this untested and she didnt think the receiver worked./it did need cleaning no biggie.
also bought a vintage set of really decent Jvc 4004-s for 10 bucks today,love the vintage stuff.
hey,i know where there is another identical r115,the gentleman passed away and the twin is sitting in the basement shop hooked up and working.
lmk if you want me to hook you up.
80s Luxman sound signature is different from the more modern gear (90s and later). Luxman has adopted a fuller softer sound in their modern gear.
so maybe she's not the most beautiful girl in school, but she's great to party with and always a good time. Besides who looks good at this age?
^This is the luxman owner
^this guy thinks 30 year old women are past their prime
This isn't beautiful?! This is a supermodel receiver!
Great review! The best integrated amp I ever owned was the Luxman LV-102. I deeply regret getting rid of it. And the new Luxman gear is pricey. I may look for one of these. thanks!
I bought one of these new back in the day. It had a low-frequency hum and also made static noise when adjusting volume with the remote. It uses a servo motor to actually turn the knob. I took it back directly to Luxman which was with Alpine then and exchanged it for the newer R-361 which I still have today with the original box, manual, and remote.
I loved my Luxman R-113 and been trying to find something with similar sound and more power. My favorite I have ever owned.
I have a Luxman R-115 that I bought at a thrift for store for $15. I get a lot of interest and offers to buy it when people who know see that I have it. :)
Jay you are funny as hell bro LMAO. Great video, and funny!
loved your hair man! keep it like this no fancy stuff
Fun video Jay, you had me laughing a few times. I think it’s a good move for you to review vintage occasionally. I had a few good vintages pieces but my first love was a beautiful Marantz 2240 receiver, it paired great with my old set of Monitor audio bx2 bronzes back when these were new. All my mediocre Indie rock recordings sounded fantastic.
You deserve more subs, Jay. Really love your reviews.
Luxman is still relatively affordable compared with Marantz but prices are creeping up. I do not agree that you have to recap an 80's Luxman but if you buy one, get also a can of Deoxit D5 for the switches.
And most likely the speaker relays will have to be replaced
Lol I had two of these things over the years we called it the Buick grand national are GNX of the musclecar world (monster receiver world)out of its time but the last of the true monster receivers is what we used to call this and yes it is way underrated I remember pulling the top off mine and just blowing it with the little cans of air and my friends look at the size of that freaking power supply up in the middle of it
I own an Lux R117 and the remote also. It's pretty good. But to tell you the Truth I like the sound of my Older Lux R1070 better.
So nice, this vintage stuff. I bought a 1978 Luxman R-1500E receiver properly recapped and serviced for 450 euros a year ago ( US$ 510). It looks gorgeous, and the sound is very much like the one you have there (now I want to try that as well...). I used it on my Harbeth Super HL5 speakers (3500 euros a pair) and while really good, the speakers could do with a bit more. Still, playing Tomorrow Never Comes of the Eurythmics with the typical 80s pop total lack of bass with the Luxman's loudness turned on made it sound SO much better. Tone controls are great! Now it's paired with a set of Q-Acoustics floorstanders (the Luxman feels like overkill) and I never knew those Q-Acoustics things could sound THIS good... I love vintage! I also use a Nakamichi 482, 682ZX and Cassette Deck 2 and a Thorens TD-124 as my daily drivers. Oh, and a Marantz CD-63KI Edition from the mid 90s. The value for money of these things tend to be SO good.....
Really enjoyed this video Jay, thanks. Hook up a decent pair of modern speakers to a vintage amplifier from the 70's to early 80's and you've got yourself a match made in heaven.
I still have my 75 SX850 plus another for parts. Installed new parts ie matched transistors, the sound is incredible. The design is SEPP, look it up.
My local shop has an Adcom gfa555 ii from this era. From my understanding this was a nelson pass creation and it's a beast. Not expensive but I'm wondering if it would be worth it considering the age and possibility of needing repairs now or in the future.
You are at one point going to need new power supply caps. Those are the big cans inside. They have, at best, a 20 year lifespan in a high power transistorized amp. If you like the amp, do it now before one of those caps blows and possibly takes out an outlet stage (or a speaker). If it’s so-so, sell it now before it goes. I worked for an Adcom sales and service dealer for 30 years.
that thing consumes 600 watts of ac power . Very inefficient.
@@daniannaci3258 I haven't bought it. They want premium price for it ($550) and I've heard they go on ebay for closer to $350. I could possibly haggle and it's also possible that some work was done to it but I get the impression that although this shop does repairs, if they plug it in and it works, they probably just sell it.
@@joeygonzo 60 watts at idle, 845 watts at 265 watts per channel into 8 Ohms. How awful that it would cost nearly 5-cents to operate at full volume for an hour. I have one on my Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers, also very inefficient, yet still one of the best speakers in the world.
I still have my Luxman R113 I purchased when I was in college and just starting out in my audio journey, I used it as a preamp to my Yamaha MXU1000 Amp. I transitioned through several preamp overtime and have gone with Tubes for my preamp & Amps. I’ll I have to pull it out and listen to it, see how it stacks up. So much of my system has changed. But if I dig hard I know I have most of the components to I had in college; even my JBL 940 speakers. I’m an audiophile pack rat.
I was interested in that receiver way back when I first got interested in audio. The headroom that thing has is pretty ridiculous. The ONLY reason I shied away from pulling the trigger on one is some guys on a forum were talking about how, yeah, it's a pretty badass piece of gear BUT, there was like an internal chip or circuit or something or other that if that thing died, you basically owned a doorstop or a paper weight. I DID end up getting a Luxman R1070 that I am still kicking myself for having sold it off. I LOVE Luxman.
I also wanted one but a amplifier designer told me the same thing, it can not be fixed if that fails. Unfortunate as the combination of high power and the Luxman sound would be a great combination. I found a L-430 for $162 in almost perfect condition.
105 watt integrated amp with just about every function you could ask for. It sounds superb to my ears, instead of thinking about how the amp sounds, I am listening to the music. Very musical, linear with good detail, a notch towards the warm side. For the price I consider it an outstanding value.
I have two Luxman M-117 amps. Great stuff!
The sound you’re hearing is that of aging electrolytic audio coupling caps. I call it “grey”. In a complex receiver like that, there are anywhere from 5-10 inexpensive electrolytic coupling caps in the audio chain per channel. God help if any Japanese receiver made the slightest pop or tick when pushing a button which is the reason why they’re there. Film caps were way too big, too heavy, too expensive and intended for high voltage use (vacuum tubes) to be used on the densely packed PC boards of the era. Lower power receivers of that era generally sound better because they are simpler, with less caps, switches, connectors and stuff for the audio signal to flow through. The best vintage Luxman Alpine receivers were probably the R-101, R-102, and R-103 with 40, 60, and 90 WPC respectively. I think the R-103 was even supplied with a remote. The best part, and what makes these receivers special, is the Servo Face, or “suck-face”, as us dealers called them, on this series of Luxman receivers. The control panel would literally rotate inward 180 degrees and hide the controls when the receiver was not in use, leaving a clean and unique look.
Just discovered your channel! Great video very informative! I have this unit from my dad that he bought new back in the day. It needs servicing but looking forward to adding it to my set up soon!!
I have owned two separate R-117s. One was a pristine original example and the other was fully restored and re-capped unit. I bought my first R-117 based on the very positive reputation it has from owners who seem to love it. However, and this is just my two cents, so take it with a grain of salt: but I found the sound of both of units to be identically boring and dynamically lifeless sounding. They just had no verve, swagger, excitement or momentum to their sound at all. I found the bass output and quality to be relatively lightweight and one-dimensional, and soundstage width and depth was not very good either.
Upon my assessment of the first unit I bought (the pristine original one), everyone who had been so adamant about how good it supposedly is told me that perhaps I had a bad unit, and to look for another one. So I kept that unit in storage for about a year or so until I found the fully restored and re-capped unit. I then hooked them up to my main system and A/B'ed them to see if there was any sonic improvements and they were both indistinguishable in their sound signature - i.e. still disappointing. No matter what speakers or other associated gear I swapped in to help make them sound better, they constantly exhibited the same lifeless sound that did absolutely nothing for me and my enjoyment of the music. Within days I listed both of them online and sold them off. I genuinely WANTED to like the R-117, and tried everything I could to achieve that, but in all honesty, I have heard a ton of other gear, even from the same era that was far from top of the line, that sounded infinitely more enjoyable.
Perhaps with some system out there a better synergy could be found(?), but with the 5 sets of speakers (both tower and bookshelf) and numerous turntables and CD players I hooked into them, I just continually found the R-117 to be very uninspiring sounding. Again, just my opinion, but there are MUCH better options out there for the money these are now commanding. Both vintage and new. I know there are adamant fans of this receiver, but for me, the R-117's performance didn't live up to its hype. Your mileage may vary, but I was not impressed at all.
Very interesting video! Please do more vintage gear reviews.
I still have my original R 406 from the 1980’s…
I had the R406 too, and sold it and regret, It sounds so airy and magical!
I picked one up a few years back while I had an HK3490. The HK3490 was better. I wasn't impressed with the Luxman R-117 as I expected more and it performed to spec. Back in the day it made an impact but, there are other choices. Sold it to a happy buyer, so that's what counts. If it satisfies, there you go.
Today I have a Hegel but it is currently supplanted by a Keces E40. At my listening levels and with my current speakers, that little amp does it for me. Ten pounds, 34/61 watts at 8/4 ohms. stated capable of up to 15 amps per channel. That's all I need.
The Hegel, while a nice integrated, is overkill for my needs. May sell it. we'll see. But Keces is a reputable company, has a larger high power amp, so there you go. But that little integrated is a really impressive performer. Happy listening.
Happy New Year Jay! Think we all need one nice vintage receiver to play with! Love your singing and up mood! you are a Cutie Patootie!
Hey Jay I have a 1974 vintage Sherwood receiver I use for radio only. I recently hooked it up to my magnepans and was shocked how great it sounded.
My main system is the Audiolab 6000a streaming with a Bluesound node 2 i and
It was close just not as detailed
with stronger base.
Hello from New Zealand! Recently discovered your channel and love the variety of content and your review style. Always really interested in the music you listen to and test with - this would make an awesome video one day! Anyway, keep up the good work!
I was a rep for Alpine/Luxman in Florida during this era. My R117 just blew up after ~35 years. Now I am on a mission to repair it. I managed to get the service manual, but whether or not I will be able to find any of the ICs is a really good question.
Did you have any success? I’ve got one I need repaired also
Great piece of vintage gear, but really useless unless professionally serviced, which in almost all cases means replacing the filter caps, checking and adjusting bias, replacing other parts that may not have aged well etc. etc.
And yet I'm running a Luxman L-113A that I've owned since 1985 and never had worked on, and a more recently-bought L-114A, and they're both in full working order. Don't believe the myths about vintage gear - a lot of it is still performing well within spec and sounding great.
I agree all my vintage units have been recapped pots all that good stuff changed 👌🏽 Huge change to soundstage, presentation etc.
and that was their , "mid-fi" line. I had an M-4000 for 27 years. Just blew it up by accident. Broke my heart.
Has your “blown up” receiver been looked over by a technician? My 1972 Sansui integrated amplifier blew an output transistor back in the ’80s, but it was easily replaced and hadn’t taken out any other components when it died.
You can't beat this receiver I love mine and you got a good deal on yours cuz I surely wouldn't sell mine from twice that much
Nice tip! Not quite vintage, or the same level as Luxman; some earlier surround sound amps like Technics go for $50-$100 - surround bit is old tech and no good for a modern surround system, though some of these amps were really beefy (and expensive) for cinematic power - massive transformers etc, and you can unplug the unused boards inside. This is currently a good way imo of getting a good starter amp on no budget.
I’ve a/b compared with other newer units costing 3x as much. Holds its own and surpasses others with transparent speakers. Just like I have older speakers than my focals that sound better.
I do really like watching vintage gear reviews & hope you can do more. hey I had to tease you on this ... "fast treble"? say what?? :)
The treble was so fast, it reheated his cold McDonald's fries - like a microwave.
KOOL. A quick look at the specs suggests it doesn't like hard to drive speakers.
Love all the tone controls and A/B speaker options on the old vintage gear! 😍 My old Yamaha receiver even comes complete with the very short-lived Laser Disc input!😆 JBLs were big in the 80s, still my speaker brand of choice with vintage gear.JBL's with titanium dome tweeters would help brighten this unit up.
i have a pair of 4311's that i hope will sound good on this amp. I have cornwall 4's that im dying to hear on this old beast as well.
What you get for that money....AFTER PROPER TECH SERVICE as needed...is...
I'm older than you Jay and actually lived through the era you are discussing. Toward the late 70's Japanese gear was looked down upon in audiophile circles in general and by the 80's all those bells and whistles were considered largely an excuse to cover up poorer quality. Those perceptions have largely changed now. I think though that if a 40-45 year piece of gear is to be sonically considered and described you must recognize that if not brought to spec you may not be describing the sound of the gear BUT INSTEAD the effects of its aging. Also a hallmark of excellence in power amps is the ability to double power when you half the impedance load. So..it would be preferred for a 150 watt amp RMS into 8ohms to produce 300watts RMS into 4 ohm and then 600 watts into 2 ohm..250W at the onset of distortion at 2 ohms for a 150watt amp (8ohms RMS) isn't really so great..these measurements and calculation I will agree are tricky and sometimes non-representative of headroom which is a whole other can of worms. Do you tech this gear first at least to check component values at original spec????
PS I'm a very big fan of yours...just some thoughts for consideration.
i have seen specs that put it at around 700 watts@ 2 ohms. from people who rebuild them. i have never been able to clip the original r 117 that i bought new.
RMS?
It was made in the early 90s, not 80s. Luckily, I got one in decent shape, and happy with the sound. I did not bother to recap it, just used some deoxidizing spray on the day it came in. 😇
Now you can connect it to your KLH speakers for a complete vintage look!!
lol no he cant, it's mine. all mine
yes, that it an amazing piece of gear. I would disagree with your statement about the 80's being the pinnacle of vintage gear. I lived through that era and I can tell you that things were going down hill before 1980. The 80's should have been better as this piece indicates, but with the Bank of Japan artificially propping up the Yen, through the 70's, which ultimately weakened it, the Japanese manufacturers could barely maintain the full lines of quality gear, that they had built up in the 70s, because of subsequent rising inflation. The cheapest pieces of kit suffered first as the manufacturers tried to maintain Prestige pieces that the consumer could look to as examples of what that company was capable of. I could go on, but I think you know what I mean.
Very interesting explanation. Thanks for that!
Agreed Cameron. The Golden era of audio ended with the 80's.
So funny 🤣🤣. You had me in hysterics with your singing. Cheers Jay
Now that i think about it , a vintage amp like this may be a match made in heaven with the KEF R3. I find that the R3 lacks a bit of warmth in the midrange.
My Kef R3's work really well my Pioneer A91D. 29.2kg of Pioneers finest. No harshness or shrill anywhere. Even manages hot recordings like the Flaming Lips on CD. Plenty of bass slam and highs not unlike the ribbon tweeter in my Rocksan TD5's.
I like all the buttons and options, I like the look lol, most of my 'vintage' gear has options so I'm into it 👌🏼
Hahahhaa I loved this guy... as a Brazilian guy, I felt this korean as if he was my neighbor. Amazing your way of telling your impressions and all the other shits haha
Still got my R115. Some say it sounds better then the 117. I still have not parted with it. I just cant!!
This is from the Alpine period of factory mass manufactured. The classics were the Rosewood cabinet receivers and the Reference series components.
you are right about that for sure, however this one and its little brothers, the r113 and r 115 are exceptional and somehow made it through the dreaded alpine era
Luxman actually made exceptional pieces during the Alpine-Luxman merger (Alpine did not buy Luxman) because of the modern factory of Alpine. The problem for Luxman during that time was they were mismarketed, geared to compete with the lower end Yamahas et al. 🍻
I love your reviews man!..thanks a lot for them.
Do you have experience with the Anthem STR Power AMP. What are your thoughts on it?
I plan to use it for the Susvara and KLH model five in the future.
Reason modern amps don’t have tone controls is 1- they are far more precise 2- tone controls distract from serious music listening. One needs to adjust them with every track. And after few glasses of whiskey, one goes crazy playing with tone controls 😀
I've got 2 Yamaha and 2 Denon AV receivers I would like to sell before I get a hernia moving them. I know there are tube amp builders around and wonder if these could be used for parts to build a "Frankenstein" amp. I do like the Yamaha sound. All of these have way too much power for my speakers. The speaker A/B is handy for comparing speakers. If you were to purchase the same # of binding post from parts connection they would cost more than any of these amps.
Jay, try and find a pair of vintage model 5's and compare the two in another review. vintage model 5 vs new.
Try some of the Chinese music - Longing of heart with Lou Yang
Is this 5 star amp or not please give a rating
I have an LV-117 and paid about $410 for it.
Hi Jay: how come there are so few reviews on ultra high end equipment? Like CH, Brinkmann, Soulution etc.
430 usd ? Whooo... the exchange rate seems to be different from a year ago.
Can you test sansui au-x901 or alpha 607/907 amplifiers and compare with modern ones, can you test more older amps?
lookingf at an r-351 receiver. what kind of price should i look at paying for it??? i have no idea.
thanks for any help
Off topic question: what did you use to paint your centre diffuser black?
love the luxman valve gear SQ38 U
I picked up this amp a couple of years ago....I really love the sound yet notice something a little strange. If I nudge the volume control ever so slightly (just take up the slack without raising the volume) It's as if a veil was lifted from the speakers....sound is much clearer. Not sure if that's a characteristic of this amp or maybe a bad volume pot....Has anyone experienced the same thing?
Use a can of deoxidizing spray for the switches
Dream on 🎶, luscious, smooth, like McDonald’s🤧
Was the rolled off high end a specific tuning of this era or more a technical limitation?
Jay - please don't review John Lennon's 'primal scream' album:-)
Where are you finding all of this vintage gear for so cheap? I look around for vintage gear and find most of it to be over priced. And this is not a vintage gear but I recently saw someone trying to sell a used amp that could still be bought new in a factory sealed box yet this seller was trying to sell a used unit for more than you could buy it for new. How greedy.
Lot of greed exist under the vintage heading.
Is Luxman a new brand ?
Yeah try finding one.
I have a technics su-vx700 from 30ish years ago and a yamaha as701 bought last year. The technics has CRAZY bass the yamaha just cant match BUT...the yamaha sounds clinical and really does sound beautiful. Basically technics i use for dance music and yamaha for everything else. Also i avoid anything British built, i have had linn, nad, naim and they all sound sublime.....right up until they go bang, where as my technics amp has never been opened once in 30ish years of ownership.
I had trouble understanding you
I wonder if this sounds as good as my Proton..
You have a Proton? You, me and 14 other people 😆. Great sounding units! Sounded better than NAD and was more reliable even though they were largely made in the same factory (McIntosh once marketed a receiver that was basically a NAD Monitor 7600 around 1990). They were priced noticeably higher than NAD, though..
Harman kardon amps receivers have better defined highs!! I have found Older H.K. & Denon to be more reliable Sonicley superior in my opinon! Neither fizzle out like Lux do.. Fortunley Im able to fix amps & audio componets to some extent! I wouidnt bother on a luxman though they leave me unimpressed which is why I thru out my R-117 after it just wouldnt turn on...the same goes for there cd players as well! Avoid lux unless its found at a garage sale in working condition, buyer beware!
The fact that you trashed a Luxman R series kinda makes it hard to take you seriously.
what you been smoking today
So I'm not the only one wondering if Jay was either off his meds or double-dosed.
Lol @ 9.13
Tis unit no match to Onkyo tx6500
More headphones please!
purest sound and tone controls are oxymorons imo
you can bypass tone control with the "tone defeat button" on most of these receivers including this one.
Booooriiiing. (jk…mostly 😏)
It’s not the best
Not interested… too big, too ugly and terrible WAF as wee as NO Family Approval Factor….😂