Seeking opinions on Luxman suckface

[p. rex]

Hello all,

I am quite smitten with the Luxman “suckface” series — particularly the RX-103 receiver and LX-104 integrated amp. I hear they sound terrific and I think one would go well with my Nakamichi LX-5 cassette deck.

Anyway, I’ve heard the general wisdom on these is that the electronic guts are fairly robust (Luxman advertised them as stable down to 2 ohms, apparently), but that the chassis and faceplate are kinda flimsy. I think that the servo faceplate is neat enough that it might be worth dealing with, but are they really that irritatingly chintzy? One thing that would bother me is if the knobs felt too Fisher-Price. Are they real alumninum? Do they feel reasonably solid? I don’t mind little plastic buttons, but I do like a well-damped volume pot.

Looking for y’all’s general input!

Thanks,

Rex

 

[showett]

I had an rx-101 that I fixed the suckface on and it sounded great, I liked it better than my marantz 2230. The controls felt good but can see whare some might say they feel cheap, I think the longer knobs to accommodate the deeper suckface give them that feel.

 

[musichal]

I had an rx-101 that I fixed the suckface on and it sounded great, I liked it better than my marantz 2230. The controls felt good but can see whare some might say they feel cheap, I think the longer knobs to accommodate the deeper suckface give them that feel.

Exactly. I sold them when they were new. Well, our store offered them. I never personally sold a single one because I hated them so much, and still do. Some love 'em, though. No surprise in that. The folks who liked them most at the time thought the retracting faceplate section cool; I thought it gimmick-y rather than useful. But it was those wobbly-feeling, long-stemmed pots that bothered me most. Simply had a cheap feel, and looked to me as though it would likely lead to issues with those pots over time. To each his own.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I don’t mind little plastic buttons,

These also have Big plastic buttons.
I have an RX-103 I need to stuff a belt into. The phono section is not powered when the suckface is not in the operation position.

I like the idea of the suckface and these units so much better than the crap the other manufacturers were offering with just flat push pads for volume, bass, treble and such. That 18 month era of total crap was the beginning of the end.