LOL! Maybe one day.

Awesome... I'll be here!

In retrospect, the biggest mistakes I have made were related to amplifier purchases based on recommendations from selling dealers without actually hearing them or more importantly, auditioning them in my own audio room.

Not that any of the gear was sub-par. It was all good stuff but none of it gave me the exact sound and experience I am looking for. I am seeking the emotional connection to the music as opposed to listening to sounds that I constantly have to analyze and question how things could sound better.

I am thankful that I have not spent MEGA bucks on my amplification (never more than low-teens) as I could have been easily tempted to spend twice that amount or more, only to be back on the merry-go-round.

Certain people on this forum know that as of this week, I am back on that merry-go-round. In the interim, my trusty 4 year old PrimaLuna will keep me happy until I can find just the right piece.

I have learned that there is not necessarily a correlation between price and sound quality. Just last week, I auditioned some gear that was twice the price of my existing amp and it fell way short.

I freely admit that for me, half the fun is the "chase" - researching, hearing, and trying new gear. It's an expensive proposition and best applied to pre-owned gear (which hasn't always been my case).

As my very understanding wife says, I could have much more destructive hobbies or vices!

I auditioned a few heavy weights for my next tube amp:

Air Tight ATM-300R, Engstrom Arne, Kondo Overture I, Shindo Cortese 300B, Luxman MQ-300.

I was very surprised (pleasantly as well), Luxman beat them all.

Of course the demo was less than ideal, different rooms, different speakers, DACs. But still on a very humble DAC, and a $3000 preamp, and a $5000 speaker, the Luxman outclassed them all.

I am now figuring how to get one home :)

I've heard the MQ-300 fantastic amp. Luxman builds great tube gear but they seem to be overlooked by their solid state lineup. I have the CL38U-SE tube preamp and preferred to the 10K VAC preamp. By the way the next Luxman tube product to come out is the CL-1000 tube preamp. Cost is around 16-17K. Should be interesting.:thumbsup:

Indeed, there is some magic with most Luxman gear, always been the case.

Anyone experienced an elusive Luxman monoblock released in year 2000, called B-1?

Thanks!

"trying to create a thread about it, but still don't know why I can't, I'm only able to reply on threads, I'm a new member, tried to contact the admins without success.."

IIRC, the B-1 was solid-state. Believe it was from Luxman's Alpine days.