Nice Luxman find

Just brought home some Lab Reference Series Luxman Gear I got for a song:

5M21 Amp
5C50 Pre
5T10 Tuner
K12 Tape Deck
Adcom 575 cd to throw off the symmetry.

A little mangy but cleaning up nicely - so far it's behaving and sounding nice. Anything I should watch out for? I assume zero maintenance has been performed over the years, and this stuff's been sitting for awhile.

Sly and The Family Stone's box set of a year or so ago comes highly recommended.

Thanks

Very nice find. I'd go after any one of those Lux pieces. Always had a woody for the K12

Bryan

That K12 if working properly is one damn fine sounding cassette deck. I have one I've used since 1980.

The LRS gear. wow. I only wish I had that stuff. The 5T50 was the first digital tuner made which made it expensive. The rest of good stuff, Lux TOTL in 78-79. Hope the amp is in good shape, there are some NLA parts in it that go bad.

Luxman yahoo groupd knows a lot about these units.

Congrat's ! I have always been a Lux. fan - they made some nice stuff (Until Alpine took over)

I had a 5C50 Pre for years. The Laboratory Reference Series was TOTL for Luxman at the time. I bought the 5C50 used in the early '80s to replace my McIntosh C28. It's a very nice and well made preamp that retailed for $899 IIRC. Very nice phono stage and dead quiet operation. I loved the front toggles.

You can also change phono loading with a front panel knob. It also had an optional plug in rear panel MC phono stage step up.

Luxman also made a very nice integrated in that series, the 5L15.

Nice find.

Post some pics.

Here's a pic - looks like the tuner is the 5T10, my mistake. K12 has yet to join the party with the others. More pics in a bit.

Lucky....

Nothing like getting a whole system at the same time, beats putting one together piece by piece.

Enjoy the great find you have there.

Somewhere I have pics of a buddy's system with those plus the matching EQ and led power meters, brand new, in 1977. It stood out in my mind for years as the best system I had ever heard. I helped him remodel his basement just to showcase that setup.

Here's a good ad from the period:

Beautiful find.

I'd like to find out what the bottom unit in that stack is. Notice it has a power switch and lamp as well as a nameplate etched on it. Is that a never released much more powerful amp? Lux did have the M-6000 available just before the LRS system came out and it was a 300 wpc amp. Just curious.

Amazing Find! You should really like those I had a lux 1050 and wish I had never sold it!

Here's my own "Nice Luxman Find" story.

It is now 2014, 6 years later than previous posts, and I found the same models - 5C50, 5T10 (I prefer analog tuners anyway), and 5M21 - on ebay from two different sellers for just $1500 total, including shipping. (The amp seller also had the same model preamp and tuner listed, but I actually saved about $500 by not getting them from the same seller.)

All three pieces in near-new/mint condition, in original boxes etc!

It should all be here within a week or so, and I can't wait!

I already have a K12 deck from before, but it needs to get serviced. It either needs some general help/TLC, possibly new belt(s), or it might have been changed to 240v inside and I can't be sure. It doesn't seem to "light up enough" on 120v, but if I try it on 240v and I'm wrong... well, POOF!

Actually I already have TWO K-15 decks also, including one which is also in the original box with manual etc. But with the rosewood cabinets of the K-15s, the K-12 is probably a better match for the LRS components, appearance-wise.

I don't expect to ever get a LRS 5K50 deck (actually there is one on ebay now, but despite all its flaws and problems the seller still wants almost $2,000 for it! I'm not THAT crazy! I paid around $60 for the in-box K-15!) If I can find a K-10 that's just in the metal cabinet, the K-10 looks closer to the 5K50. But for now I can get the K-12 serviced, or just use the best of the K-15 units that I have.

And in the meantime as I wait for the Luxmans to arrive, I listen to my "everyday" setup, Mitsubishi DA-C20 tuner/preamp, and DA-A7DC power amp with DA-M10 meters front, driving Polk Audio Series II Monitor 5jr speakers and Polk powered subwoofer.

Oh, how I suffer.

On top of the cabinet with the Mitsubishi gear, I have a Luxman R-1500 receiver on display that I also got in the original box, for under $100, several years ago. Not currently connected to speakers because it gets too warm when played at levels that I enjoy. But it's too pretty to be out of sight. It's a 240v model but that doesn't bother me since all my computer gear runs from 240v anyway. So I just run an extension cord from there.

And upstairs in "storage" I have a Luxman 1050 receiver that didn't fare well in shipping to me. It had been in mint condition but the seller didn't pack it very well, and during shipping the big tuning knob came off and rattled around inside the box inflicting scratches. Such a pity. I want to get another sometime, still pristine and shipped to stay that way; or perhaps the 1070.

Oh, didn't the HH Scott digital tuner come out before the 5T50? I'm also a big Scott fan, they pretty much invented hi-fi especially FM, and they should get the credit they deserve.

Congrats jmela on a great score! I sold Luxman at a audio store back in it's day and the Luxman Laboratory Reference Series stack was a favorite of ours. Made speakers that were a bit tippy on the highs sound very sweet. Amazing find there!

WOW! Soo sweet!

Um, I am sure he appreciates that message... six years later. The newish member that posted above about his own LRS find brought this thread back from the dead.

Actually such posts with mention of value & price paid etc. really belong over in Dollars and Sense forum, should restrict the content here to discussion of the equipment itself.

I'm working towards getting my own LRS stack up and running; the 5T50 tuner is fine but will get an alignment soon, the 5L15 integrated also works fine after a meter repair. I have to get the matching 5G12 equalizer power supply sorted out, would prefer a 5F70 instead of that piece but frankly with any decent speakers the 5L15 sounds so good I really don't miss tone controls or loudness very much, more so than with my Tandberg 3000-series components which can be a little thin to my ears w/o those controls.

John

AMPHEAD said:

Congrats jmela on a great score! I sold Luxman at a audio store back in it's day and the Luxman Laboratory Reference Series stack was a favorite of ours. Made speakers that were a bit tippy on the highs sound very sweet. Amazing find there!

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Damn, missed that 2008 date!!!!

Thanks John, and good luck getting your LRS stack up to speed.

kerryedavis said:

If I can find a K-10 that's just in the metal cabinet, the K-10 looks closer to the 5K50.

But for now I can get the K-12 serviced, or just use the best of the K-15 units that I have.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing that you are comparing the K-10 looks to the K-15 looks and proclaiming it closer to the look of the 5K50 which is it, but the K-12 with the same faceplate, knobs switches buttons and such is a closer still match to the 5K50 sharing the display with that unit. That fluorescent display is very nice.

@jmela
I have that rack in the ad. Bought it in Japan in the late '70s for cheap at a Hi-Fi store in Hachinohe.

Blue Shadow said:

I'm guessing that you are comparing the K-10 looks to the K-15 looks and proclaiming it closer to the look of the 5K50 which is it, but the K-12 with the same faceplate, knobs switches buttons and such is a closer still match to the 5K50 sharing the display with that unit. That fluorescent display is very nice.

Click to expand...

Yes that is what I meant. Sorry to be unclear. I meant that the K-10 looks more like the "matching" 5K50, than the K-15s do that I already have. Largely because of the K-15s having the rosewood cabinets.