Luxman, one of the world’s oldest and most revered audio manufacturers, enters its tenth decade of with the arrival of the L-590AX Mark II – the best integrated amplifier the company has ever produced. The amp operates in pure Class A and is said to be a culmination of all that Luxman has learned since launching Japan’s first high-quality integrated hi-fi amplifier, the valve-based SQ5A, in 1961.

At the amp’s heart lies Luxman’s fourth-generation ODNF (Only Distortion Negative Feedback) circuit, sporting a three-parallel push-pull structure with three-stage Darlington. This restricts feedback to distortion components only, enabling a fast primary slew rate, ultra-wide bandwidth and enhanced signal-to-noise performance.

The preamp section borrows much technology from Luxman’s flagship C-900u preamplifier, including the LECUA 1000 attenuator circuit, which provides an extremely fine degree of volume control and left/right balance adjustment. Power is rated at 30W per channel into eight ohms, doubling to 60W per channel into four ohms – a healthy output for a pure Class A design, with sufficient power on tap to drive any loudspeakers of suitable quality.

The L-590AXII’s high-inertia power supply circuit features a substantial transformer. A high-capacity block capacitor contributes to the amp’s ability to deliver abundant power instantaneously yet, while its low-impedance transmission design, fully optimised signal paths deliver “maximum sonic fidelity”.

The L-590AXII includes bass and treble tone adjustment, a ‘loudness’ control for low- level listening, a ‘line straight’ button that bypasses the tone controls, and phase selection for the balanced inputs. Turntable users are well catered for, as befits the current vinyl revival, with an onboard phono stage switchable for MM and MC cartridge types. A headphone output is also included.

In classic Luxman style, the L-590AXII’s fascia sports two illuminated VU meters, one for each channel, giving a real-time indication of signal level. Around the back are six line-level inputs (four single- ended RCA and two balanced XLR) alongside the phono input for turntables, plus two sets of heavy-duty speaker binding posts. Also present are record-out, monitor-in and pre-out terminals, an external preamp input for integration with an AV system, and two remote output terminals for integrated system control.

The Luxman L-590AXII integrated stereo amplifier is available from selected audio retailers from January 2016, priced at £6,995.