Vintage Luxman L80-V Integrated SS Amp - Worth it?

I have one luxman vintage pre in mint condition immaculate quality. My sincere advise is, first have good audition in your place comparing with your old set up. Since tiime has passed out its caps may start weaken, dry solidering may occur very soon. But let us be optimisitic very recently I got one carver tfm15 power amp modded with highend caps and carver c1 pre amplifier. I took it after throughly checked them in my place. I had an experience luxman lv3 something ss with two tube infront amp. Which was not bad. I prefered Marantz old model than this.
 
Listen to it. If you hear yourself saying "Wow!" - go for it.
If the "Wow" is muted, it may cost you upto Rs.3K to replace caps, op-amp etc to get an affirmative "Wow!" back
 
I will second that wow thing with applicable disclaimers

At Rs. 5K it is extremely attractive provided you are handy with a soldering gun and willing to soup up the circuit a bit. Just the parts alone will be worth more.

I have tinkered with a 70s Luxman amp though not this one. Typical vintage Japanese design and construction. I would not say as exiting as Sansui or Pioneer of similar vintage but pleasant enough in a staid way. The one I fixed was a Class AB 50WPC amp and still in daily use with the owner. It was fully loaded to gills with bells and whistles though I dont know if someone still needs all that switches, tone altering buttons, etc.

I will check the Electrolytic capacitors for any damage. They must be Nippon Chemicon brand and should be still good. I remember the one I worked had plenty of tantalum caps. I will change them as these must be over 35 years now.

I will also look for evidence of previous repairs. It is very easy to offset the dc bias tinkering with the presets because most repairmen in India dont have the service manual for reference.
 
Thank you very much for the replies guys, that was really helpful. Will try listening to the amp today.

It must be worth the chassis and the transformer.
I've not understood this properly. Are you saying that just the Chassis and Transformer would cost that much?

Can u post some pics Captain, Give it a listen and then decide.

I've posted some pics here.

Regards


Rajesh
 
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Hi Capt,

The Luxman L-80 is from 1977-78.It is a good amp.Sound is slightly soft on top but might work well with your AP speakers.

Try to get a demo at home.
I have a copy of the service manual if you want one.


I have tinkered with a 70s Luxman amp though not this one. Typical vintage Japanese design and construction. I would not say as exiting as Sansui or Pioneer of similar vintage but pleasant enough in a staid way. The one I fixed was a Class AB 50WPC amp and still in daily use with the owner.

I agree with Ashok,I prefer the Sansui amps from the 70's the AU717 AU517 and the Pioneer SA 9500 have a clearer punchier sound.

The Lux is not bad but a little soft(boring,think Quad 303/405 ) compared to the Sansui and Pioneer amps from that period.

Regards
Rajiv

P.S. Capt,the pictures are upside down.
 
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Anil, Lifewater & Rajiv,

Thank you guys very much for your valuable advice. I opened up the amp at their place. It is in mint condition.

Picked up the Amp yesterday evening. It is a beauty. I'm attaching the latest pics here.

Superb sound. Highs are prominent and there is great detail.

But I've noticed that the entire amp chassis has fair bit of current. Will attaching the ground solve the problem? May be I should restore this amp by changing the caps etc? Wot say guys?


@ Rajiv, I'd love to take a copy of the manual.
 

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@ Rajiv, I'd love to take a copy of the manual.

Hi Capt,

I can mail it to you as a pdf file.Send me your e.mail as a PM/SMS.

If you need to check the amp out I can suggest a person who is very good at repairing this kind of stuff.

Regards
Rajiv
 
I can mail it to you as a pdf file.Send me your e.mail as a PM/SMS.

If you need to check the amp out I can suggest a person who is very good at repairing this kind of stuff.

Regards
Rajiv

Hi Rajiv

Sent you a PM. I'd love to contact him. Kindly provide me the contact details.

Rgds


Rajesh
 
It was an excellent amp in its day (the quality then was way above what we are used to seeing from Luxman in recent years). Made in Japan (big deal at that time).

I would have picked it for a secondary system esp. for the price. I would also suggest a service and re-capping and changing the transistors esp. the power transistors.
 
@Capt.you got mail.

@ Rajiv, Thank you very much for the manual. I've already taken a print out. I'd be highly obliged if you could provide me the details of the expert that you were referring to.

Rgds & TIA


Rajesh
 
Captain, congrats on the purchase. Those 70s Luxmans are heavy-duty, built like a tank, and with durable components. At most, you may have to replace or upgrade a few electrolytics to restore the electronics to like-new condition.
 
capt , you got it for 5k :mad::mad::mad:.... Envy you ... :p:p

get it rolling quicking and post your impressions ..

It looks :licklips:

Kittu
 
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