Luxman preamp into Mark Levinson amp?

One thing you must be aware of is the impedance matching. Pairing a softer warmer tube preamp to a solid state amp is a great idea as long as the impedances are matched correctly. Preamp to Amp matching prevents signal losses, somewhat duller sound from what I understand and distortion  and to prevent bass roll off/frequency response I had done it for years with a BAT tube preamp and a Bryston 4Bsst2 amp. Worked very well together.  Generally a 10: 1 ratio required in ohms AMP : PREAMP or 10X. In my case it was 20,000ohms (balanced) : 720 ohms. Tube preamps tend to have higher values than solid state preamps. For example my old BAT preamp would not pair well with say a Bryston 14b or a Mark Levinson I am quite sure. Interesting to see what your arrangement is squirrely

Hasmarto raises a good point - I had swapped out the original JJs with Genalex Gold Lions for all of the tubes and that's what I've been running since. I can't offer an opinion on any difference between the two tube sets as it was a few years ago that I made the change, and it was with a different amp and speakers. As mentioned in my earlier post, though, the Luxman CL-38u and Mark Levinson 23.5 present a very smooth and full sound with the floor-standing Proacs. 

@squirrely - Looking very forward to hearing back from you once you've had the chance to pick up the Luxman and put it in place with 23.5 and Wilsons.

I really appreciate all the contributions to this thread. You guys have really helped me. Yesterday I spent about 10 hours driving time and about an hour auditioning the amp. It's home now and in my line of sight as I sip coffee. Yippy! So far it's working purfectly; very statuesque. 

The seller has changed the tubes in the phono stage to NOS RCA's. the rest are origional. The seller also told me that by switching from 12AX7's to 12AU7's the current can be reduced by 30%. The Luxman has both (3 12AX7's and 5 12AU7's). I can look into this later if needed.

The other thing I haven't mentioned yet is that I have a Mark Levinson No26s that needs repair. At some point in the future I will be able to insert the ML solid state preamp for compairison. If I love both they will both be used as I continue to develop 2 systems. The house will alwas have the Wilson speakers as they meet the wife factor standards (statuesque). 

I hope to report on how the two preamps compair threw this system.

Yes i am anxious to hear how the combo goes. If you have any questions regarding tubes, I have run the gammut on these types of tubes. I own a Luxman Eq-500 phono stage which posses the very same tubes. Oh on another note, the Luxman CL-38u and Mark Levinson 23.5 is good match impedance wise.  47KOHM to 300 OHM. 

It's all warming up now. I'm going to give it a good soak before I sit for a listen. I'm excited! Might just give it an houre or so.