Luxman L-580 Mystery Provenance . . .

[decreed_it]

hey all, new to the forums and what drew me here was some excellent discussion and technical information on some KEF 104aBs - and L-580s.

I've recently acquired a bit of a mystery. Luxman L-580, with red LED meters, converted to EU 220v, allegedly factory. Don't have a picture of the plug but it's dual round plug - UK? Appears to be a factory job at least, looking at the back panel.

In researching this, I ran across this comment on an older Luxman page:

There was another "L-580" earlier in Luxman's lineup : an export version of the L-58A with added LED meters (much like an M-120A).
This was however USA-only but two of those 120V units were retrofitted by Lux USA with 220V transformers at the request of Luxman EU (Lux is Luxman is complexman) so there are/were two in Europe as well.

From Luxman L-580 on thevintageknob.org

I picked this up west of Sydney, Australia from a mate who got it from a Chinese bloke he knows, ownership chain prior to that is lost. Seeking the collective wisdom and knowledge of the group here, could this really be 1 of 2 EU conversions of an L-58A Luxman USA 'L-580'? AI slop thinks the serial number could place it early in this run.

I've got it into the shop for a once over, anything special to look at or get photographed while it's apart? Already looking for heat damage, caps. Some transistors had been previously replaced. Unit functions great and sounded awesome, but wanted to get it as perfect as possible.

 

[Blue Shadow]

With the printed serial number tag, and the 220 voltage on that I would think that that was a production run of the L580 made for other markets than the United States. There are pictures of these amps with 220v stickers on them and round power cords which were not the kind generally supplied by any manufacturer for US voltage units back then. They used zip cord, lamp cord, type wire with the US standard plug.

May well be an Australian or other country version Luxman made. With world power not being just 220 as your unit states but also 240 at that time I don’t know if Lux would have made both for certain countries or why. A guess on my part is that the L-580 might have been the first of these 100 watt amps in the lineup to be produced and small runs of them were made to supply demand before the L-58a and L-68a were made. These amps and maybe others were different output types as Luxman seemed to be making all kinds of gear for many markets. Heck it might have been a run of them just to be able to supply the demand for amps like those others but with power LEDs which the smaller L-450/480 amps both had. Couldn’t have the top unit in the line not have the power indicators and the smaller have them.

Yes, heat damage on the main board which is installed components down at the bottom of the amp has two spots, one each channel were a couple TO-220 style transistors would char the board. Hopefully your amp is in good shape (less used) than many and heat sinking can be added to keep it in good shape. Let’s see a pick of those areas if you can get them.

 

[decreed_it]

With the printed serial number tag, and the 220 voltage on that I would think that that was a production run of the L580 made for other markets than the United States. There are pictures of these amps with 220v stickers on them and round power cords which were not the kind generally supplied by any manufacturer for US voltage units back then. They used zip cord, lamp cord, type wire with the US standard plug.

May well be an Australian or other country version Luxman made. With world power not being just 220 as your unit states but also 240 at that time I don’t know if Lux would have made both for certain countries or why. A guess on my part is that the L-580 might have been the first of these 100 watt amps in the lineup to be produced and small runs of them were made to supply demand before the L-58a and L-68a were made. These amps and maybe others were different output types as Luxman seemed to be making all kinds of gear for many markets. Heck it might have been a run of them just to be able to supply the demand for amps like those others but with power LEDs which the smaller L-450/480 amps both had. Couldn’t have the top unit in the line not have the power indicators and the smaller have them.

Yes, heat damage on the main board which is installed components down at the bottom of the amp has two spots, one each channel were a couple TO-220 style transistors would char the board. Hopefully your amp is in good shape (less used) than many and heat sinking can be added to keep it in good shape. Let’s see a pick of those areas if you can get them.

Thanks for the reply, I found it hard to believe the claim from that website link only 2 were made for Europe. I’ve asked the shop to get some interior photos we will see what else we can discover about this specific unit. End of the day it sounds and looks fantastic, anything else is just gravy.

 

[Blue Shadow]

Heat damage, I’ve seen much worse but this isn’t good.
Circles in red across the top

 

[restorer-john]

If it's a dual round pin EU plug, then it definitely came from the EU at some stage.

All Lux was imported and distributed in Australia by Interdyn (Alex Encel's company) and it was rewired by them with Australian three pin plugs. Always grey to match the round grey cable. And much of it was marked 220V. I've got a couple of Lux L-81s and IIRC, they have the same 220V sticker, but were sold by and plug fitted by Encel.