To Doug Schneider
I really enjoyed your Luxman M-900u review. I’ve always loved the Luxman gear, and have owned the M-600A amp and demoed the M-800A.
Lately, I’ve been demoing amps with my new JBL 4367 speakers. I currently own Mola-Mola Kaluga mono amps. They are very resolving: Almost too resolving, much like the Soulution 710, which I used to own.
I have the Audionet Max amps in my system now on demo and my dealer is bringing over the Luxman M-700u on Friday. If I like it, I may order the M-900u. I can’t demo the M-900u because the distributor doesn’t have them in stock. Do you know how different the M-700u is from the M-900u? I don’t expect them to be the same, but I thought it would be worthwhile just to get a feel for the sound.
Thanks again for your review,
Michael
United States
It’s funny that you should bring the M-900u amplifier up. Just the other day I was thinking about it, because it’s the best-sounding power amplifier I’d ever heard in my system -- it has the smoothness and ease of the finest tube-based amplifiers, combined with the power and control of the top solid-state designs. It sounded flawless in my systems, which is why I praised it so highly when I reviewed it and still think about it today. Had I been able to afford the M-900u, I would’ve bought it. But I couldn’t, so I didn’t.
I’ve only seen the M-700u at shows. Although it looks similar, I know it’s definitely not the same because their prices are miles apart. In the United States, the M-900u retails for $19,990, while the M-700u is $9990. Big difference! Surprisingly, how much power they’re purported to provide is similar: 150Wpc into 8 ohms for the M-900u versus 120Wpc into 8 ohms for the M-700u. Other than that, I don’t know much more about the M-700u. So, after your letter came in, I wrote to Philip O’Hanlon at On a Higher Note (the North American distributor for Luxman) to ask him about the two amps. This is what he wrote back:
The M-900u is a dramatic improvement sonically, though only 33% more powerful. The M-900u benefits from the best parts at Luxman’s disposal, while the M-700u is built to a price. Among its many features, the M-900u has gold-plated, peel-coat circuit boards. It also has a transformer wound with solid rectangular copper wire, directly attached to solid-copper bus bars, which are bolted to the capacitors. The entire power supply on the M-900u is dramatically improved over the M-700u, which I assume would account for a lot of the difference in weight between the two amps: 27.5kg versus 48kg. The M-900u is almost twice the weight! In its stereo mode, the stereo M-900u is stable into a 1-ohm load and will drive pretty much any speaker. Cosmetically, there are not many differences, other than the M-900u is a little taller and deeper.
From what I’ve experienced with the M-900u, and with what Philip says about the two amps, I can only imagine that if you like the sound of the M-700u, there’s little doubt that you’ll like the M-900u even more. . . . Doug Schneider
