L590axii and KEF Reference one


I was told by a dealer that carries both Luxman and KEF that the L590axii Integrated amp (30W class A @ 8ohm) would have no problem powering my KEF reference Ones in an 11' X 15' (8' celing) listening space.
I'd like some opinions from this forum.
bluespiano
I own the 590 AXII and believe your dealer is correct. I've powered speakers with lower than 89dB with no problem. If your dealer carries both can't you go there for a demo and see if it's to your liking?

Hi OP.
The Luxman 590 is a seriously under-spec'd amp.  It is really a 90 wpc amp, that Luxman underrates, I believe in large part due to the amp preconditioning rule.  It's got the electronics of a 90 W amplifier, but not the heat sinks needed to pass the hour long preconditioning, which is completely unrealistic.

It is my belief that Luxman chose to rate the amp at 30 wpc in order to avoid changing the form factor but I have not confirmed this.  See the measurements at the bottom.



More here:
https://www.stereophile.com/content/ftc-proposes-eliminating-its-amplifier-rule

and here:
https://onahighernote.com/oahn/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/REVIEW_160601_Hi-Fi-World_Luxman_L-590AXII...
Interesting and at the same time perplexing as to Luxman's design decisions around their new set of integrated amps.

The "Class A" line up of 550AXii and 590AXii and the "Class A/B" line up of the 505uXii, 507uXii, and 509X.

The form factors are the same as far as I can tell from their on-line specs.  

The 550 and 590 are touted as pure Class A, up to a certain output, yet their website doesn't make any mention that they can actually output quite a bit more in Class A/B.  

And at the same time, the 505, 507 and 509 have specified outputs much higher than the 550 and 590, yet the website doesn't mention that at least the 509 actually is biased to operate in pure Class A for the first 6 watts before transitioning to A/B for the rest of its specified output.

The 509 and the 590 have the same form factors with the 509 weighing in at 29.3kg while the 590 is lighter at 28.4kg.