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LUXMAN - SQ-N150 Tube Integrated


EmilC

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  • 2 years later...

Very old thread, but reviving seems better than starting new.

 

I just got a SQ-N150 to drive my 1975 Heresys and am thrilled.  Beautiful detail, great soundstage (width and depth), and surprisingly has really good bass.  Plenty of power for the Heresys (no surprise).

 

Build quality is really high -- everything feels very solid and smooth.  I'm expecting this to last me a very long time.

 

(Cage will be removed soon!)

 

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I get a real hoot reading through the literature these companies print on their tube products to completely spin their product into something it isn't.

 

It's cathode bias output tubes is the oldest and simplest design but that doesn't make it Class A, it's really a Class AB amplifier. Not saying this is bad, they just don't want to market it as a Class AB amp for two reasons, Class A sounds better and probably sells more and when it switches over to Class B it probably starts to get some ugly crossover distortion like all cathode biased amps AB amps.

 

Get a kick of what they rename to sell products. Their "P-K split phase inversion circuit" is another very old done a million times cathodyne phase inverter, also called a split load phase inverter where the plate (P) and cathode (K) have the same loads on them. Again this isn't bad it's just silly for them to act like they are doing anything different or special. This is an extremely common economical circuit from 70+ years ago, 12AX7 input, split load inverter to cathode biased push pull EL84 output. You really can't get any more simple and common.

 

I am only picking this amp apart because of their ridiculous sales literature. When you say things like "with our deep knowledge of tube design" in the sales brochure I expect something that wasn't just copied from a 1950's console amplifier because that's what you are getting, a 1950's budget console amplifier.

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19 hours ago, captainbeefheart said:

I get a real hoot reading through the literature these companies print on their tube products to completely spin their product into something it isn't.

 

It's cathode bias output tubes is the oldest and simplest design but that doesn't make it Class A, it's really a Class AB amplifier. Not saying this is bad, they just don't want to market it as a Class AB amp for two reasons, Class A sounds better and probably sells more and when it switches over to Class B it probably starts to get some ugly crossover distortion like all cathode biased amps AB amps.

 

Get a kick of what they rename to sell products. Their "P-K split phase inversion circuit" is another very old done a million times cathodyne phase inverter, also called a split load phase inverter where the plate (P) and cathode (K) have the same loads on them. Again this isn't bad it's just silly for them to act like they are doing anything different or special. This is an extremely common economical circuit from 70+ years ago, 12AX7 input, split load inverter to cathode biased push pull EL84 output. You really can't get any more simple and common.

 

I am only picking this amp apart because of their ridiculous sales literature. When you say things like "with our deep knowledge of tube design" in the sales brochure I expect something that wasn't just copied from a 1950's console amplifier because that's what you are getting, a 1950's budget console amplifier.

 

Thanks so much for cr***ing on the thread.  Not sure why you felt the need to do that.  This is a very nice amp that's well made, sounds great, and works well with Klipsch speakers.

 

Seems like you should have started your own thread so you could take pots shots at all the other vendors that do the same thing . . . 

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The new Luxman gear is NICE!

 

Just stay away from the mid 80's/early 90's stuff when Alpine bought them mainly to acquire the brand name. Not the same performance, or build quality as the 70's and earlier.

 

I still have Luxman MB3045 running original 8045G & 6240G tubes.

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3 hours ago, jcn3 said:

Thanks so much for cr***ing on the thread.  Not sure why you felt the need to do that.  This is a very nice amp that's well made, sounds great, and works well with Klipsch speakers.

 

Seems like you should have started your own thread so you could take pots shots at all the other vendors that do the same thing . . . 

 

Did I once say the amp sounded bad or the build quality was bad? I only said the sales literature was a puff of smoke because that's what it is.

 

Don't you want people that actually know how these amps work keep the manufacturers honest about their products? Or would you rather it be like the wild west where snake oil salesman run amok?

 

Think about it, what are other amps with push pull EL84 tubes getting for output power? More than 10 watts right? The amplification part of the product is about as simple and lackluster as one can get as far as circuits go. But they twist words around to make it sound like they are breaking ground in new tube technology advancements. I think people should know the truth about what they are purchasing and for some that have fallen victim to the sales literature and paid more than what they probably should have for what they got then they get angry at the messenger not the company that ripped them off. Look at the Crimson 275 amp, nobody believed us when we told the truth, people that owned the amp were in denial until there was too much evidence to deny.

 

When you spend a lot of money on a product you should want more than a shiny box with more money into the sale pitch team then the circuit design team. This is clearly an example of that, shiny box and a poor circuit with a big price tag. Take it how ever you want but nothing I said is false or made up, unlike their sales jargon.

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13 minutes ago, captainbeefheart said:

 

Did I once say the amp sounded bad or the build quality was bad? I only said the sales literature was a puff of smoke because that's what it is.

 

Don't you want people that actually know how these amps work keep the manufacturers honest about their products? Or would you rather it be like the wild west where snake oil salesman run amok?

 

Think about it, what are other amps with push pull EL84 tubes getting for output power? More than 10 watts right? The amplification part of the product is about as simple and lackluster as one can get as far as circuits go. But they twist words around to make it sound like they are breaking ground in new tube technology advancements. I think people should know the truth about what they are purchasing and for some that have fallen victim to the sales literature and paid more than what they probably should have for what they got then they get angry at the messenger not the company that ripped them off. Look at the Crimson 275 amp, nobody believed us when we told the truth, people that owned the amp were in denial until there was too much evidence to deny.

 

When you spend a lot of money on a product you should want more than a shiny box with more money into the sale pitch team then the circuit design team. This is clearly an example of that, shiny box and a poor circuit with a big price tag. Take it how ever you want but nothing I said is false or made up, unlike their sales jargon.

 

you were simply dropping irrelevant info into this thread.  if you got a beef with marketing efforts in the industry, you should create a new thread.  did you add a similar comment to the primaluna threads?

 

you know much more about design than i do, but i think it's safe to say that there hasn't been much evolution in the design of tube amps in a long time.

 

 

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8 minutes ago, captainbeefheart said:

 

I only said the sales literature was a puff of smoke because that's what it is.


All sales literature in audio could be described as such - open a copy of audiophile and that is mostly what you will see

 

And the idea that any manufacturer is breaking new ground with tube technology seems kind of ridiculous to me. I don’t think Luxman is any worse than any of the others in making such claims.
 

As I see it, this is a beautiful amp, beautifully made and lovely to look at.  I personally don’t understand the appeal of tube amps. But this one seems quite nice. 

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4 minutes ago, jcn3 said:

you were simply dropping irrelevant info into this thread.  if you got a beef with marketing efforts in the industry, you should create a new thread.  did you add a similar comment to the primaluna threads?

 

you know much more about design than i do, but i think it's safe to say that there hasn't been much evolution in the design of tube amps in a long time.

 

There were great circuits made in the past and present, this isn't one of them and that's the point.

 

Why do I need to make a new thread? This is a thread about said amplifier correct? So any information pertinent to it is relevant no? These companies know people purchasing them know nothing about the circuits and so they purchase things with their eyes typically, which I never said the amp looked bad or wasn't built with nice materials. It's the fact they make it sound like the invented a new phase inverter design that's better than the typical ones used which is completely false. Is that not relevant information toward the amplifier in question? There is the same confusion with guitar amps where people believed that certain amps were Class A because of how they were marketed but they are not Class A, they are just cathode biased Class AB where they perform best in the Class A region. This particular amp doesn't even use cathode bypass capacitors so if it were to be pushed into class B the results would be awful which is why they rated it at such low power for two push pull EL84's. It's literally like they did the absolute least they could do as far as circuits go to make an amplifier and then dolled it all up in a nice chassis.

 

You could say everything that can be done with tubes has been done which is partly true but that's not the issue here because we have learned how to make amazing tube circuits that perform very well, this amps circuitry just isn't one of them.

 

Can you point me to a Primaluna thread where you feel the amps in question isn't what is advertised? From what I have seen from Primaluna sales jargon is nothing misleading or anything close to the BS Luxman has put into this amplifier here. Primaluna's claim to fame is their autobias circuitry which works as advertised.

 

If I see anything scrupulous from anyone I call it out, it doesn't matter what company. There is no personal vendetta, only calling out BS when I see it and I see a lot of it in the Luxman sales literature for this amplifier.

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7 minutes ago, captainbeefheart said:

 

There were great circuits made in the past and present, this isn't one of them and that's the point.

 

Why do I need to make a new thread? This is a thread about said amplifier correct? So any information pertinent to it is relevant no? These companies know people purchasing them know nothing about the circuits and so they purchase things with their eyes typically, which I never said the amp looked bad or wasn't built with nice materials. It's the fact they make it sound like the invented a new phase inverter design that's better than the typical ones used which is completely false. Is that not relevant information toward the amplifier in question? There is the same confusion with guitar amps where people believed that certain amps were Class A because of how they were marketed but they are not Class A, they are just cathode biased Class AB where they perform best in the Class A region. This particular amp doesn't even use cathode bypass capacitors so if it were to be pushed into class B the results would be awful which is why they rated it at such low power for two push pull EL84's. It's literally like they did the absolute least they could do as far as circuits go to make an amplifier and then dolled it all up in a nice chassis.

 

You could say everything that can be done with tubes has been done which is partly true but that's not the issue here because we have learned how to make amazing tube circuits that perform very well, this amps circuitry just isn't one of them.

 

Can you point me to a Primaluna thread where you feel the amps in question isn't what is advertised? From what I have seen from Primaluna sales jargon is nothing misleading or anything close to the BS Luxman has put into this amplifier here. Primaluna's claim to fame is their autobias circuitry which works as advertised.

 

If I see anything scrupulous from anyone I call it out, it doesn't matter what company. There is no personal vendetta, only calling out BS when I see it and I see a lot of it in the Luxman sales literature for this amplifier.

 

oh, i didn't realize that this site had become a marketing strategies sight . . . i thought we discussed how things sounded.

 

regarding the quality of the amp, you know as well as anyone that the only way to make fully informed comments is to listen to it.  have you done that?  it doesn't appear so . . . 

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1 minute ago, jcn3 said:

oh, i didn't realize that this site had become a marketing strategies sight . . . i thought we discussed how things sounded.

 

regarding the quality of the amp, you know as well as anyone that the only way to make fully informed comments is to listen to it.  have you done that?  it doesn't appear so . . . 

 

I have heard this circuit plenty of times and know how it sounds,  it sounds good enough to sell and that's about it. Is it worth the money? To me certainly not but that's a personal decision others need to make. I am only giving facts so people can make better informed decisions. Only 10 watts from push pull EL84 tubes should be a red flag itself but what do I know.

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1 hour ago, captainbeefheart said:

One example, if you have heard a Fisher 30a you have heard the Luxman amplifier since they pretty much cloned it verbatim. Most likely why they call it Neo-Classico because it was a very popular inexpensive circuit used in the 50's. It worked like glue and didn't need a lot of parts which made it affordable.

 

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not that i don't believe you, but how do you know they're nearly identical?

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