I came across a Luxman T-351L Tuner and looked for reviews before buy. Nothing found with details and then started this thread. Unfortunately no reply from FMs and looks like no one come across this tuner. Now the tuner in my hand and hooked with my stereo setup. I decided to write my experience about this tuner here which may be useful to someone come across such a buying option in future. Please note I am neither a professional reviewer nor have any experience with too many tuners.
First View:
This is a simple tuner without too many frills. The size of the tuner is bigger than many others in the market with a dimension of 438 x 350 x 90 (L B H) mm. The weight of the tuner is almost 4 5 kgs. But the front panel is a special plastic kind not metal one. Also the top side is not painted surface. The top cover made on GI sheet with black lamination on top surface instead of paint.
Front panel having common soft buttons which found in similar kind of tuners. Having 20 preset memory function and stored channel can be selected by 1-10 and a +10 number buttons. Tuning can be done either by Manual or Auto function. Timer function is also available which enables ON, OFF and Alarm function. There is no Remote sensor so that remote control is not possible. However back side has control bus socket and may be controlled by hard wiring. The unit voltage selector switch is in bottom side (Careful Foot side) and can be select 120V, 220V and 240V. I set it at 240V.
Just opened the top cover and observed inside. There is a massive power supply transformer (From the size it may be a 600 750mA) with a 4700F filter capacitor. A MOV is soldered across where the power card has been soldered to prevent the unit from minor voltage spikes. Conventional type 7812 and 7805 ICs doing regulating function. Most of the components are discrete and transistors. The main board is far behind from display board may be for prevent noise pick. Power board has been mounted on vertical. Overall the built quality is good.
Display:
There is small red LED just above the Power switch. The LED lights up as soon as the Tuner connected with wall socket irrespective of the unit in ON or Standby. The LED brightness is just enough without any attention seeking. The display is very clean sharp pale orange in color and it is very cool to eyes in nights. I just moved the unit outside the house during day time found that the visibility of the display is very low. Brightness is just right when using in indoor. One Display button is on the face plate for toggle the display between Clock and Tuner Info. The clock display is real time in 24hrs format.
Once powered up the tuner, display panel flashes in clock mode. Time need to be set and flash stops once time set. The clock runs in real time as long as wall power available even in standby mode. In standby mode the display turns to clock mode automatically and display the time. The clock need to set every time in case of wall socket switched off or interrupted. Initially I thought it is a problem but after reading Luxmans next model T-353 user manual understood that it is a limitation of the unit.
Performance:
As I informed my experience with different tuners are not much. Here my comparison is with my existing Denon TU-260. I am using a one meter length coaxial cable as antenna because my apartment house limiting using of Yogi Antenna. Since my residence is within the radius of city broadcasting stations reception is not a problem.
I kept both Denon and Luxman tuners side by side, used 1m cable as antenna and tuned same station. The difference is huge noticeable. The Gain in Denon is high compare to Luxman. I used to listen in Denon with amp volume at 8o clock position. For the Luxman it is need to crank up the knob to 9o clock position for the same sound pressure. Other than gain in all areas Luxman is singing miles ahead and especially the background noise. The music background is so silent and music is much detailed. In both tuners sound is balanced and natural. But the deep bass is much better in Luxman. The spacing between instruments is excellent.
Overall for me it is a very good tuner and I am happy with the hunt.