The L-503s is quite the amplifier. I was instantly taken back by it's ability to reproduce music with all the instruments in their own separate spaces. It's a clean sounding amplifier, not sterile--not too warm, just very natural. I think it's difficult to say that any amplifier sounds like it is reproducing music like it's live (because we end up relying on what we think "live" sounds like), but this has to be pretty close.

The instrument at play back is lively, sharp, and dynamic. Each brush stroke on the snare drum, the resonation of the drum stick hitting the ride cymbal, or the clinking of ivory keys on the piano being worked sounds just right. It's almost uncanny because none of the instruments in a jazz ensemble get lost in each other. Each remain distinct in their very own spaces.

I have never been able to set a amplifier to "direct mode", with absolutely no tone adjustment or loudness contour; however, on this amplifier--it sounds the best this way. I find that recordings and poor room arrangement usually causes me to do just that--adjust, but not with this Luxman.

I read a earlier review on the rarity of this integrated unit--he is right. There is no information anywhere on it, no specs, I don't even know if it's running class "A". It does emit a nice warm stream of air out the top vents--so I suspect it might be. It does not run "hot", but most certainly warmer than most units I have had.

I find the the phono-stage is very good, so is the reproduction of music with a good tuner or cd-player. I currently use a Magnum Dynalab FT-11 tuner, Cambridge Audio 550 Azur CD player, and a Sansui SR-838 turntable with it--the synergy is very good with all components and my very rare Technics SB-E200 speakers.

I was a Sansui enthusiast and ended up selling my beloved AU-9500 and TU-9500 combo after listening to this system for one evening just as it is now.

If you can find a L503s Limited Edition Luxman, I suggest you move very quickly on owning it. I suspect one could pay upwards of $1500 still for one based on it's rarity.

Enjoy the Music!

- smooth transparent sound
- wide and deep soundstage
- excellent pace and dynamics
- exceptional build quality

- almost impossible to find in N. America

This review is for the Luxman L503s integrated amplifier, one of Luxman's Ultimate Fidelity - Limited Edition series and extremely rare! In fact, I doubt there is more than 2 of these amps in all of N.America! It retailed for $3000 and at that price, it was a steal. It's a special series that Luxman makes mostly by hand and in their higher end models (this line goes to about $20K for an amplifier), they literally take the order and then start to build the amp. Luxman is known (in this line) for their exceptionally high quality transformers and impeccable build quality.

This integrated amp is 65 watts per channel but has tons of reserve power so I think the 65 watts is very conservatively rated. In fact, I've never played the amp at more than 1/4 volume and I like to play music fairly loud at times! It produces a sound that is exceptionally well balanced and smooth throughout the entire frequency range. It's the most transparent amplifier that I've ever heard, with excellent pace (probably because of the great power supply and transformer), a nice balance between detail and musicality, a wide and deep soundstage (extending far beyond the boundaries of the speakers) with instruments and voices precisely placed and properly scaled, even it terms of vertical height.

The build quality is extremely high, if you take the top off the unit, you'll see only the highest quality electronic components. The unit is built like a tank, super heavy with a solid walnut top and sides and a thick brushed steel faceplate. Like all components in the Ultimate Fidelity series, it has champagne colored metal.

Some nice and very expensive additions include: balanced inputs (with phase inversion switch, very rare but nice to have!), two sets of speaker outputs with A, B, A+B selector switch) which allows you to bi-amp your speakers for even better sound, not only a headphone jack but a high quality built in headphone amplifier, and for old school vinyl fans, it has a very nice built in phono section and a soft-start mechanism to reduce the shock on the electronic components on power-up.

It also has some specific features that only high end Luxman gear adds such as a power phase indicator that shows whether the incoming power is in phase. If it isn't, it lights up and tells you to reverse the power cord so that the power is in phase with internal wiring of the amp. Very cool feature. It also includes bass and treble controls (that are fully bypassable) and some additional filtering options too but I've always just bypassed all these controls (with the line straight button) because it just seems to get everything right. However, they are nice to have in case your room has some sonic anomolies that you need to compensate (all rooms have some to one degree or another).

All in all, an amazing product with very few making it over the pond from Japan, which is a real shame!

Customer Service

- I've never needed any assistance expect to replace a lost remote control, which was shipped promptly. The build quality is so high, I doubt this unit will ever break down!

Similar Products Used:

- Krell KAV-300i and Krell KAV-400xi