Luxman’s new EQ-500 phonostage North American debut at THE Show Newport May 29-31, 2015

2001 was the last time Luxman released a top of the line phono stage, the E-1 (solid state). When they discontinued the E-1 recently, the buzz was on as to what they are replacing it with.

The truth is, since the introduction of the award winning PD-171 in 2011 and the subsequent PD-171A and PD-171AL turntables, Luxman’s engineers were eager to return to the drawing board to deliver a complimentary phono stage with fresh designs using all of the best parts at their disposal. Given that Luxman spent almost four years designing the PD-171, it makes sense that they took their time designing the EQ-500.

In order to deliver the tonal density that the best vinyl playback is capable of, the vacuum tube design is not a surprise. Nor that they reached out to Mundorf (Germany) for their “Audiophile” series of capacitors. Many of the Japanese designers feel that the best amplification of the super low output of a moving coil cartridge is with a step-up transformer. Considering that Luxman have been designing transformers for ninety years, it is perfectly logical that four moving coil step-up transformers (two per channel) are employed.

Features:

• In order to deliver all of the harmonic density available in the best analogue recordings, its a vacuum tube design. All stages are vacuum tube (1, 2 stage SRPP {Series Regulated Push Pull}, the final stage cathode follower parallel and non-feedback CR type phono-equalizer amplifier RIAA standard only)
• Vacuum tube rectifier to the power supply circuit for supplying a stable voltage to the amplifier circuit and (EZ81) employing a choke-coil.
• Moving coil step-up transformers (super permalloy), four in all, two per channel for high & low output moving coil cartridges deliver up to 18dB of gain.
• Individually adjustable gain & loading up to 67dB for low output moving coil cartridges.
• Balanced & single-ended outputs.
• Three separate, single ended inputs.
• Highest quality parts employed: Mundorf “audiophile” series capacitors (Germany), JJ vacuum tubes (Slovakia) and Takamisawa capacitors (Japan)
• Filter switches: low cut (20Hz/3dB), high cut (8kHz/3dB)
• Mono/Stereo switch
• Articulator switch = cartridge demagnetizer
• Phase invert (for balanced output)
• VU meters

Availability: Late September, 2015

Tentative Pricing: $7,500 – $7,950