Luxman vs Leben, Round 2: (Leben gets KO'd by a third tube amp)
This time I took wifey with me for a 3-hour listening session, to make use of her cleaner ears (she plays several musical instruments with subtlety and grace), practicality ,and frugality, while appeasing her at the same time so I can buy the equipment I like with less flackĀ
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My main object was to ascertain whether the sharp high notes I heard at first listening to the Leben CS300X were due to the amp or the speakers.
We set-up a Luxman 507 identical to my own and my own Ah! Njoe Tjoeb at the shop. There were again no speakers comparable to my Yamaha NS1000x available. Last time I listened to the Leben through Diatones, with negative results, so this time it was first through Theil CS2.3AW and then through Harbeth 30 monitors, both supposedly flat and neutral speakers.
Result:
First we listened to a wide-ranging collection of familiar stuff through the Luxman 507, to understand how it sounds through the two speaker sets compared to our Yammies. The Theils had much looser, sloppier bass than the Yammies, and more sharply piercing highs. The Harbeths were much softer all around than the Yammies or the Theils, with a lighter, more airy quality than either. (We weren't there to compare speakers, just to understand some characteristics of some amps, so it didn't matter that the Harbeths are bookshelves and the Theils are floorstanders.)
Then we played the same set of music through the Leben CS300x (Mullard EL84 tubes). The overall difference between the two was slight. I slightly preferred the tonal coloration of the Leben, while wifey thought the Leben "mushed sounds together" and sounded more "muffled" than the Luxman. We both agreed the Luxman 507 was a bit more clear, offering better resolution of instruments.
However, the same shrill high notes from the Leben plagued both of us through the Theils, just as they did to me through the Diatones last week, but not at all through the much softer Harbeths, and not at all from the Luxman through any of the speakers. Some violin notes and opera singer's voices were actually painful from the Leben through the Theils.
Overall we weren't deeply impressed with the the Leben.
It was obviously better overall to us than my Prima Luna Dialogue Two, pounding the final coffin nail into that amp for me, and making my mind up to return that amp to the shop next week.
While we were listening, someone bought the Leben via phone or internet. The sales guy then seemed to feel more free to introduce another amp to us, that he recommended based on what he was gathering from our likes and dislikes. He set-up an older Luxman tube amp, an SQ38FD.
THE LUXMAN SQ38FD TOTALLY BLEW THE LEBEN OUT OF THE WATER!
The difference between the Luxman SQ38FD and the Leben CS300X was like Quad ESL 989s versus Onkyo home theater stuff.
We were astonished by it. It was the first amp I've heard that was obviously more clear, had better staging and imaging, and was more natural sounding than my Luxman 507.
The SQ38FD was a wake-up call for us, showing us just how far from great the amps we had been listening are. This was definitely the best tube amp we've ever heard. However, we found every tube amp we listened to, including this wonderful old Luxman, were a bit bright and had some sharpness through most speakers. We are concerned that that sharpness might be even more shrill through the unforgiving Yammies.
In order of quality factors, we rated all the amps involved like this:
1. Luxman SQ38FD
2. Luxman 507
3. Leben CS300X
4. Prima Luna Prologue Two
We thought the Leben CS300X sounded great through the Harbeth 30 Monitors, but very different from the sound style we have grown accustomed to.
Worst case of all listening today was female vocal from the Leben through the Theils. Just awful.
Now we're not sure whether tube amps are for us, or if some SS amp will be best for our speakers and environment.
We are understanding better now what we are looking for, and it's something much closer to the overall sound qualities of the Luxman SQ38 FD, but without the occasional harsh high notes and without the tooby fuzziness we've heard in all tube amps so far.
I'll stop researching tubes at this point for now, and start looking at some SS amps before buying my next amp, which might be the Luxman SQ38FD.
