I own the M900U and yes it’s hard to beat at 15k, but is there better at 20-30k, I’m sure there’s. Constellation, Rowland, Pass, and even Levinson, to name a few.
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smodtactical: regarding the whitecamaross quote, sure he probably said it but it was an exageration and he didn’t mean it, as he clarified to you on his thread right before you posted this here. he exagerates from time to time but if you read the thread you will know. in fact he recently rated the xs300 as the all time best amp he has ever owned. m900u did not make his top 5. and sim audio__ v2 (I forget the model) for $17k msrp he had rated higher than the m900u. of course everyone has subjective opinions and nobody really dumps on the m900u and most think excellent. just clarifying the misleading statement regarding m900u vs xs300. sure he might have said it but again, he made clear to you that it was an exageration Also, WC did call the m900u one of the three best amps he’s ever reviewed for the money (bang for buck), so WC certainly agrees that it is hard to beat at $15k msrp |
Ya I think his initial statement was just exaggeration after initially hearing the amp and being so impressed with it. But then later on he eventually sold it lol. I find he kinda did that too with the other amps hes looked at. Like with the X250.8 he initially went insane about how its such an incredible amp. Then when I just asked him about m900u vs X350.8 his response would make you think the 350.8 is s---. LOL. |
You have to read the whole thread to understand but yeah, he always ends up selling regardless of how much he likes. He just likes to cycle through gear and test it. That is his deal. Different than most, for sure. Yes, sometimes when he initially hears something he will make statements that don’t necessarily jive with rest of thread, but I guess we all exaggerate from time to time. But he has also put out rankings where he considers everything and comes to a conclusion. His top 5 amps of all time that he’s owned and he also put out a top 3 under $20k recently (youtube video). If I remember correctly it was the Sim Audio 860 v2, the m900u, and Audio Research reference 160S for the best he’s owned under 20k. |
It’s all about system synergy. Garbage in - Garbage out, and of course what are you looking for in an amp based on your speakers... It’s a good amp, looks great. But at that price point... lots of good amps. If resale is important to you, avoid all class D at that price point (or any price point). I don’t hate class D, but I wouldn’t pay a lot for the same modules with slight op-amp changes, etc, nicer cases etc. You want resale down the road, Luxman does well and it’s neutral. Pass moves quickly and holds value. Levinson is a bit more detailed than both IMO. Coda builds a good amp, but may not hold it’s value. McIntosh does what it does, but it sure does hold value. Bargain (used) but won’t hold it’s value - The SST build Ampzilla’s. Bargain if you want a ton of power and great sounding amp(s) for the money, find some late model Parasound JC1 Monoblocks. Get the added flexibility they offer. Probably the best bang for buck out there still. WCSS and his thread is fun, but nothing more. He loves darn near everything he tries at first (which at those price points I would hope!). But he hasn’t had a consistent room, speaker, or anything the entire time - hard to really get a feel for any of it other than he is having a good time. I sure wouldn’t base any amp purchase based on that thread. You keep asking about Pass in your threads, seems you want Pass Labs. Great stuff, good market for them. VERY hard to get a bad match with Pass. You might not find the absolutely perfect match for what you like... but with Pass and darn near anything I suspect you will like what you hear. Or, get the Luxman. Having heard both on the same speakers. They are more alike than different IMO. |
I'm not saying the Emotiva BasX A-300 sounds as good as the M900U, but if you look at the specs, except for the instantaneous max output of the M900U, they really don't look much different. The Emotiva BasX A-300 costs $399 while the M900U costs $20,000 new. There's no way the M900U sounds 50 times better than the Emotiva BasX A-300. I use my
Emotiva BasX A-300 to drive my Magnepan 20.1s because it provides 300 watts at 4 ohms. Sure, anyone with the M900U can brag about how much they spent on the amp, but I like to brag about how little I spent for something that sounds pretty darn good. Let the ridicule begin. |
I got sucked into Emotiva 10 years ago. It is mid-fi pretending to be high end. Specs can be manipulated to look good on paper. A Porsche and Yugo are both cars and both will take you to the grocery store, but they aren’t the same or even close. Comparing a $300.00 amp to a $12,000.00 amp is a joke. Emotiva is very cheap audio built to a cheap price point. There will be no high end parts inside and a tru listener should be able to hear the differences, unless you are deaf. |
I just read at least two websites that said the M900U costs $19,900 (I rounded it up to $20,000) but I did find another that said $17,999. If you can find it cheaper, all the more power to you because I'm all about saving the money for other things. But the entire point of my post is that the Emotiva sounds darn good, can drive 4 ohm, low sensitivity speakers with plenty of power, and there's no way the M900U sounds 50 (or 30 if you get the
M900U for $12,000) times better. Can we at least agree on that? |
Your reading VERY old information before Luxman opted to distribute their line themselves. Many years ago the list price was $19,995 when "On a Higher Note" was the USA Distributor. Glad you like your Emotiva. I wouldnt take it if I saw it sitting out at the Curb Brand New in the Box but thats just me. Ever hear of the law of diminishing returns in the Audio World?? Ignorance is Bliss!! |
@winnardt Saying something sounds great is fine.. but its not very meaningful unless you compare it to something. Sounds great compared to what? Beats by dre sounds good compared to a $1.00 amazon IEM... but compared to an HD650 it sounds very poor. And yes of course when in audio is there a direction proportional increase in sound quality compared to what you spend? As you spend more and more diminishing returns kicks in. This just the unfortunate nature of audio which I agree can be a very expensive hobby. Maybe the M900u is only 2-3x better than an emotiva... if that even means anything. But then it comes down to how much that improvement means to you? For some people they are not willing to spend $500 on something that is twice a s good. Others are ok wtih $100,000 for something that is 5% better. |
Hello, I have very recently auditioned Luxmam M900U and a few other amplifiers including Bricasti M25 in my 2 channel system and went ahead with the Bricasti unit. In my system I have a Bricasti DAC/source controller M12 which feeds this stereo amplifier to drive Aerial Acoustics Model- 7T speakers. I found Bricasti to relatively quieter having better dynamics and much better control in the bass domain. Luxman M900U is also a wonderful unit and I liked it a lot compared to other amplifiers like Gato mono blocks and Parasound JC1+. However in the end I found Bricasti to be a bit more powerful in controlling the Aerial drivers yielding a better performance although the difference, compared to the Luxman unit, was not huge. Both Luxman and the Bricasti sell at the same price point and I would advise you to demo the unit in your room before buying it. Luxman M900u combined with their Pre-amplifier C900U sounds way better than any other combination. I listened to this pair in a local dealer's place and it was really good. But I didn't try this combination in my system comparing it with the Bricasti pair. Finally you can find out more on my recent experience on Bricasti/Luxman amplifier audition process in another Audiogon link, initiated by me. Thanks. |
IMHO, Pass Labs creates fantastic amplifiers, but their preamps fall considerably short. I had my XA60.8's first being controlled by a Mac C2300 before splicing in a XP20. I was terribly disappointed with the XP20 in regards to the musicality(for lack of a better word)...it sounded anemic and a bit too analytical for my tastes. I sold it after three months and had the Mac 2300 retake its position as I worked with Aric at Aric Audio to create The Motherlode. The Lode has been in my system ever since and is now in control of my new Coda Model 16...I cannot imagine being any happier, from a sonic perspective! |
"Comparing a Lux to a Emotiva ?" Yes, I compared the specs as I said and there is very little difference. Don't forget that my very first sentence was "I'm not saying the Emotiva BasX A-300 sounds as good as the M900U". The whole point of my post is that when someone spends $12,000 to $20,000 on an amp, they should be getting something that sounds many, many multiples better than a $399 amp but I don't think they are. Better? Sure, but likely not enough better to justify the cost. I'm a value conscious buyer and if people want to spend that kind of money on an amp, by all means go for it. But don't think I'm going to be impressed because you spent that kind of money and didn't get many, many multiples better sound. I'm more impressed by the sound people can get from value buys. I also said: "Let the ridicule begin." because I knew the pretentious crowd couldn't resist. |
@winnardt, Whether the price increase for the performance gain is worth it is obviously going to depend on the individual. But I don't think those people shopping for $15-20k luxman, pass, mack etc amps are that worried about super high value for the money. If they were they probably would be shopping for much cheaper amps that are still good performers. |
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@naseltzer well said ! Exactly. I think a lot of people are chasing a more 'tubey' sound but without having to worry about tube life or tube nervosa and I wondered if luxman had some of those qualities. I know its unlikely any SS amp will truly sound like a truly tubey amp but maybe it can push far enough into that domain to satisfy ? |
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The OP has sent me numerous messages regarding gear that I have posted or spoken of asking me about, "shootouts", "VS", or "comparisons" ad nauseam! I have been polite in reply and entertained each of them accordingly. For all I know he doesn't even have any gear, as his posts are either parroting something someone else stated, or worse, asking for another shootout for gear he is unlikely to even purchase. Now who is the annoyer here?!
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