![izotope tonal balance control is driving me crazy izotope tonal balance control is driving me crazy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9UxkPWdr6_Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
The Luxman is supplied with a small remote handset, with Up and Down volume buttons and a Mute switch. I used only the Luxman's stock AC cord, and avoided tweaks of every sort. At the other end of the system were my Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE loudspeakers and, on occasion, my original Quad ESLs. My primary line-level sources were a Decibel (v.1.0.2)equipped Apple iMac with Wavelength Proton USB D/A converter and, as a CD player, a Sony PlayStation of indeterminate vintage. The Luxman's own MC step-up transformers, with switchable gain for low- and high-output MC cartridges, performed acceptably welland without detectable noise or grainyet for consistency's sake I tended to precede the Luxman's MM phono section with my own step-up transformers: an Auditorium 23 SPU Standard for my low-output Ortofon SPU cartridge, and a Silvercore One-to-Ten for my higher-output EMT pickup heads. In my main reference system, the Luxman SQ-38u took the place of both my Shindo Massetoitself a full-function preamp with an MM phono sectionand my pair of Shindo Corton-Charlemagne mono amplifiers. It appeared that my review sample had been around the horn more than once, yet it still worked without a hitch. Parts quality is good to excellent for this price range, and build quality is fine. Very chunky output transformers and a similarly large mains transformer are encased in metal covers these, like most of the chassis' interior surfaces and even those tube cans, are finished in textured black enamel. The Luxman's component parts are distributed across a number of sturdy PCBs, the largest of which contains the preamp and phono-preamp circuitry, along with those seven dual-triodessome protected with spring-loaded cansand the step-up transformers for the phono section. (A spec for moving-coil phono gain was not provided.) Gain specs are 14dB for the line section and 37dB for moving-magnet phono. In addition to the four power pentodes, the Luxman SQ-38u contains seven small-signal tubesfour ECC83 and three ECC82plus a pair of custom step-up transformers.
#Izotope tonal balance control is driving me crazy plus#
(The amp has no apparent means of switching between different output-transformer secondaries or combinations thereofbut it does have those two sets of speaker connectors, plus a control knob for selecting either or both pairs, combinations of which may account for different load impedances and power specs.) The fixed-bias design, with a rail of about 420V (at power), makes use of both local and global feedback. The Luxman uses two E元4 tubes per channel in a class-A/B Ultralinear circuit, for a total of 25Wpc into 8 or 4 ohms, or 30Wpc into 6 ohms. And the controls! The SQ-38u is as full-function as they come ("as they used to come" would be closer to the truth), with a Balance knob, separate Bass and Treble Tone Controls, a low-frequency cutoff (aka "rumble") switch labeled Low Cut, a Mono/Stereo switch, and a mute button plus switching and connectors for two pairs of loudspeakers. The solid wood cabinet wouldn't look out of place next to Hugh Hefner's cognac decanter. The silver front panel contains over a dozen knobs and switches, yet somehow avoids seeming cluttered.
![izotope tonal balance control is driving me crazy izotope tonal balance control is driving me crazy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_PpQRMugPrc/maxresdefault.jpg)
Let's not beat around the bush: this is what an amplifier is supposed to look like.