Poll: Best Looking Stereo Integrated Amp

[Blumlein 88]

I don't know why I said that.

That's what I get for logging in at 3 am.

Snow woke me up.

Not the worst thing so don't worry about it.

 

[Frank Dernie]

The lesson seems to be that big VU meters are popular.

Ha-ha.
I prefer the useful ones in the Devialet, even if they are small and not always displaying 90% bollox

 

[Frank Dernie]

Damn---Too Late:
View attachment 100889

Tried one of those back in the day, the amp was short of power, or at least it ran very hot at normal listening volumes, and sounded a bit flat and undynamic, so probably clipping at a guess.
It also was the first amp where I learned how much I hate up down buttons for volume. Awful bloody thing, and I write that as a lover of Revox tape machines.

 

[watchnerd]

Ha-ha.
I prefer the useful ones in the Devialet, even if they are small and not always displaying 90% bollox

I did read that the Luxman are calibrated to read -20 dB at 1 watt.

Which I guess you could use to measure speaker sensitivity.

 

[Koloth]

I fully expect these products to be divisive, but I really dig their sci-fi looks:

BMC CS3 (6'000 EUR)

or:

BMC PureAmp (2'500 EUR)

 

[watchnerd]

Tomorrow I have a listening session with the winning Luxman and its little brother.

I'll take some pics.

 

[andreasmaaan]

I fully expect these products to be divisive, but I really dig their sci-fi looks:

BMC CS3 (6'000 EUR)

or:

BMC PureAmp (2'500 EUR)

What's this?

 

[Wes]

that is an extensible pod which is used in the sample return missions

 

[watchnerd]

What's this?

View attachment 100980

That's obviously a male unit.

 

[PortableMusic]

That's obviously a male unit.

@watchnerd:

couldn't it have been an "add on"?

 

[Helicopter]

That's obviously a male unit.

I had the same thought, but my words to express the idea seemed a little crude to post here.

 

[watchnerd]

@watchnerd:

couldn't it have been an "add on"?

I had the same thought, but my words to express the idea seemed a little crude to post here.

Well, it could be a strap-on accessory.

 

[watchnerd]

that is an extensible pod which is used in the sample return missions

You give me hope for humankind.

Unlike the rest of these gutter-minded vulgarians (myself included).

 

[Wes]

OTOH, maybe the sample return mission involves this:

 

[watchnerd]

OTOH, maybe the sample return mission involves this:


View attachment 101001

The color is neutral and a good match for my decor.

But does the probe have VU meters?

 

[mhardy6647]

What it invokes in me, is the idea of a simple flat near featureless plate with magic inside. Like finding an alien artifact that somehow spins out music while being an apparently monolithic slab of metal. I think that was the design ethos they were going for.

source: https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/harman-kardon/230.shtml

 

[mhardy6647]

I fully expect these products to be divisive, but I really dig their sci-fi looks:

BMC CS3 (6'000 EUR)

or:

BMC PureAmp (2'500 EUR)

de gustibus non est disputandum and all, but...
eww.

Looks like both amps' designers had too much garlic in their dinner then had nightmares with Mr. D'Agostino's amps in 'em.

Or, perhaps more charitably: Looks like the dashboard of a DeSoto (both of 'em).

I mean, that's a good look for a 1955 DeSoto, but 2020 hifi. Not so much.
IMO, YMMV, yadda^3

 

[watchnerd]

Luxman::R2R VU color matching creates a dilemma.

The white meters on the L-509X (the best Luxman integrated) match the white-yellow meters on my Revox (my 2nd best deck), but the yellow meters on the L-590AXII (the 2nd best Luxman integrated) better match the amber meters on my Studer (my best deck).

 

[StefaanE]

Luxman::R2R VU color matching creates a dilemma.

The white meters on the L-509X (the best Luxman integrated) match the white-yellow meters on my Revox (my 2nd best deck), but the yellow meters on the L-590AXII (the 2nd best Luxman integrated) better match the amber meters on my Studer (my best deck).

I wish I had your problems .

 

[watchnerd]

I wish I had your problems .

Are you kidding me?

Do you know how much easier it is to buy Revox and Studer decks where you live than where I live?

My A807 had to be shipped on a palette from the Netherlands to Seattle.