Re. The Krell K-300i which was recommended earlier, I’m sure it is great but here is a comparison of the Krell to the Accuphase E650 taken from another forum, if anyone is interested. I’ve just been home- trialling a Krell K-300i, kindly lent to me by the nice chaps at Guildford Audio. I was interested in it as a possible replacement for my Accuphase E-650 integrated amp, which is a great-sounding (and looking) device, but being not too nippy on my pins these days, getting up to physically switch the Accuphase over to direct amp input for A/V duties has become a bit of a nuisance. Also, the idea of a single box amp, pre, DAC, streamer with HDMI input appealed.
Being stuck indoors with nowt much else left to do, I’ve spent the better part of two days listening to various diverse recordings from different sources - Chord DAVE/Mscaler DAC, & LP12 turntable.
Anyway, I’ll cut to the chase; the Krell does sound pretty good, with a lively, exciting sound quality. But having now put the Accuphase back in my system there really is no contest to my ears, in my system: The Accuphase has a richness and depth that eludes the Krell, and there is a lack of harshness that shows even dodgy recordings at their best. There’s also a more detailed quality to bass notes and a lovely resonance that the Krell doesn’t capture.
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Yes, it's very good, the L-590AXII. It punches well above its price range and rival the uber-integrateds costing up to $20,000 or more.
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I’ve had the Luxman in my system for a couple of weeks now and it’s amazing. Punch, control and clarity. So much more of all that compared to my old PrimaLuna Dialog Premium HP. Highly recommended! |
Music Direct has a 60 day return policy, but please check it out for yourself. It looks like if you just don't like the sound/performance, you can return the amp, and you'll need to pay the return shipping charges.
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You should find previous threads on the 590.
It is a seriously technically under-rated amp, which would do about 100 WPC if it wasn't for the preconditioning requirement.
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You may want to consider the
KRELL
K-300i integrated that I am using to drive KEF LS50's. It is very smooth (tube like) and very powerful. It will rock those KEF 1's. This KRELL has amazing bass on both my LS50's and Thiel CS3.7.
In the future, the LS50 will be replaced by a Yamaha NS5000 which has a huge bass driver. That should be a pretty incredible combo in the big room I have the KRELL in.
I also tried the CODA CSiB with both of the LS50 and CS3.7. It is also a great sound with a little less bass than the KRELL. The CODA has 3 versions and I had Version 1 with 150 | 300 at 8 and 4. The first 18 watts were in Class A. I think both of these would have more bass power than what I remember from the Luxman 509x and the m900u. Both are great integrated amps. |
Ok thanks appreciate the reply. |
Yes without a doubt the Luxman 590 will give you amazing bass. For some reason, Luxman seriously under rates the power specs. I was driving my Sonus Faber Olympica 2 with Audio Research GSI75 and the sound the KT150s made was quite good. But once I switched to the 590axii, the bass was glorious - punchy, impactful and textured. The sound is less euphonic but comes damn close to tubes, with better dynamics, detail retrieval, and wide soundstage.
Sonus Faber Olympica 2 are 88 db and 4 ohms. The Luxman has zero trouble driving them. The KEF Ref 1 are less sensitive but higher impedance. I’m sure you’ll like the performance. Good luck! |
