Luxman's C-900u Preamplifier and M-900u Amplifier.

Our long awaited Luxman reference preamplifier and amplifier are here. These are the best that Luxman makes and we are very happy to be displaying them here at Pearl Audio. The build quality of these does not completely translate in photos. You really have to see the precision metalwork and use the silky smooth controls in-person to get a feel for the quality and care of construction of these fine Japanese electronics. 

Up first is our C-900u Preamplifier.

Here is an interior photo of showing the perfect wiring and heavily engineered circuit board. Note also the oversized power supply - at first glance you would almost think it's a power amplifier. 

Luxman circuit boards use soft rounded turns on their circuit boards because they have found these to sound superior.

LUXMAN's original LECUA 1000, a stepped fixed-resistance attenuator, is used for the volume adjustment system, a major feature of this new control amplifier. The 88 step range allows for more precise volume adjustment.

You can see in the C-900 preamplifier's rear panel photo just how heavy the side panels are and the precision of the metalwork. The front panel is about 1/2" thick.The Luxman M-900u reference amplifier has also arrived. The M-900u outputs 300 watts into 4 ohms, but more tellingly of power, 1200 watts into 1 ohm which means it can source enormous power reserves when a speaker demands it. This is especially important with speakers such as Magicos which require significant current when playing highly dynamic musical passages. The M-900u can also be run as a monoblock where it will put out 600 watts into 8 ohms and 2400 watts into 2 ohms. 

Here is the M-900u's front panel. The white meters are used on all of Luxman's reference series components. 

Here is the M-900u's rear panel. Note the convenient signal ground post and phase inversion switches. These are little things, but they are also things that a very experienced company put in to make the use of the component more refined. 
Luxman M-900u internal photo top view showing monstrous power capacitors, internal and external side isolation chassis construction, solid copper bars, and custom low-noise transformer.

Luxman M-900u with bottom panel removed. Note the use of copper screws for better circuit grounding and the massive internal heat sinking.  You can also see the rounded circuit traces. 

The sound is a lot like a tube amplifier with extraordinary sense of presence and a huge, wide and deep soundstage. It's quite etherial and one of the best amplifiers I've heard in terms of convincing you that you are seated in front of a 40-50 foot-wide stage listening to a live show.  

The M-900's remarkable presence gives energy to vocals and lifelike textures to instruments such as violins, cellos, guitar. You can get a more distinct sense of the actual bow on the string or the copper-bronze sound of a (steel string) guitar. A contributing reason for this may be that the M-900u amplifier stays in Class A for 12 watts, which means most of the time you are hearing Class A unless there's a large dynamic musical event. Well-executed Class A's signature is a textured, lifelike sound with a lot of unforced fine detail. I think this Class A performance, combined with the massive power supply is one of the reasons we have this superlative combination of presence and soundstage. 

It's only been here a week, and is already a store favorite!

Feel free to come by for a listen!

-John, Russ, Connor & Tara.