Luxman D-405 (1984)
A Toshiba-built first-generation Luxman CD player with a belt-driven tray, a 16-bit DAC, and a spec sheet that looks better than the thrift-store price suggests.
Overview
The D-405 is a single-disc Compact Disc player, made in Japan and dated 1984 in the surviving documentation. At least one eBay seller has billed it as a 1985 model, so hold both figures loosely. It sits in the first wave of Luxman's CD output. The chassis is a modest 5.4 kg and measures 450 x 83 x 330 mm, there is a headphone jack on the front, and the tray runs on a belt rather than a direct gear drive. Replacement belts for "Luxman D-405 CD Tray" are still sold today. That tells you the original has a service life, and that a dead drawer is the most likely reason a working-looking example gets listed as untested.
The converter is a Toshiba TD6705AP, a 16-bit part, and that detail explains the whole machine. According to Vintage Audio Laser, the CD players Luxman sold between 1983 and 1986 were all of Toshiba origin - partially so in the case of the larger D-03 - and the D-405 fits that pattern cleanly. This is not a Luxman-designed digital front end wearing a Luxman badge. It is a Toshiba design that Luxman dressed and sold. As a piece of Japanese digital history from the format's first commercial decade, it is genuinely interesting. As a high-end Luxman statement piece, it is not, and the market has mostly figured this out.
One wrinkle first. Some sources describe the D-405 as a standalone D/A converter rather than a CD player, citing digital inputs and outputs and the absence of a documented transport. The available evidence points the other way. Aural HiFi and multiple retail listings call it a CD player, a replacement tray belt is sold specifically for it, and the unit carries a headphone jack - none of which fits a converter. The digital I/O on the rear is real and documented, but it reads as a player that can also function as a digital processor, not a processor alone. Treat the DAC-only claim with suspicion.
Key Features
Toshiba TD6705AP 16-Bit Converter
The DAC is a Toshiba TD6705AP, 16-bit. It is the same family of part that shows up across Toshiba-derived players of the period, and it is the reason the player's measured performance lands where it does. It is not a modern-sounding player. An owner on diyAudio described it as "a pretty neat player" that "doesn't sound too bad despite the old 16-bit DAC," which is about the right calibration. It is competent early digital, not a giant-killer.
NPC SM5843AP Digital Filter and JRC 5532D Analog Stage
Behind the converter sits an NPC SM5843AP digital filter, and the low-pass filter stage runs on JRC 5532D op-amps. The 5532 is the workhorse dual op-amp of the period - nothing exotic, nothing objectionable, and easy to find if one fails. The overall architecture has been described as reflecting serious digital design, and the parts selection supports that reading: a named digital filter, a known converter, and a conventional but sound analog output stage. It is built to a Toshiba reference design with Luxman's own execution around it.
Belt-Driven CD Tray
The disc drawer is belt-driven, and that is the most consequential fact for anyone buying one today. Belts stretch and perish, and a D-405 whose tray will not open is usually a belt job rather than a dead player. Replacements are cheap - KP Components lists one at $2.98 CAD, and eBay belt listings have turned up at €8 and £5 - so the fix costs little if you are willing to open the case. A seller who cannot demonstrate the tray working may be selling you exactly this problem, and "Tested, Works!" in a listing title is worth more than any amount of cosmetic description.
Digital Inputs and Outputs
The rear panel carries one coaxial/RCA and one optical/TOS digital input, plus one coaxial/RCA and one optical/TOS digital output. That is an unusually complete digital I/O set for a 1984 player, and it is the detail that has led some sources to classify the D-405 as a converter. In practice it means the player can be inserted into a digital chain rather than only feeding an analog preamp. You can run its converter from another transport, or tap its digital output into something newer.
Headphone Jack and Single-Disc Transport
A front-panel headphone jack is listed among the unit's features, and the transport is a single-disc drawer with a changer capacity of one. Disc format is plain CD. Nothing here suggests a machine aimed at the multi-disc market or the high-end separates crowd. It is a straightforward one-box player with a headphone output, built to a price that the documentation no longer records.
Historical Context
Vintage Audio Laser dates the D-405 to 1984, and places it within a run of Luxman CD players sold between 1983 and 1986, all of Toshiba origin. It was one of several Toshiba-based Luxman players from the format's first years, not a lone flagship. An eBay seller has described a D-405 as "Ultra-Rare" and dated it 1985. The year discrepancy is minor and may reflect model-year versus sale-year.
The period press record is thin. HiFI-Stereo (April 1985, p.11) ran a new-products roundup that mentions Luxman, but the surviving text does not cover the D-405 specifically, so there is no contemporary review for measured performance or original pricing. A related model, the D-105, shares both the service manual and the TD6315AP IC with the D-405. The two are close enough that parts listings routinely pair them. A 64-page service manual and an owner's manual both survive, which is more documentation than many players of this vintage can claim.
Collectibility & Value
The D-405 is not a collector's prize, and the market evidence is blunt about it. The most telling data point is an owner on diyAudio who bought one at Goodwill for $5 - a working example, by the sound of it. Audiogon's Bluebook carries a pricing page for the model but no specific value surfaced in the available research. The only prices that turn up with any consistency are for accessories: tray belts at $2.98 CAD, €8, and £5. Those are not player prices. No reliable current market value for the player itself has been established.
What does circulate is parts. A genuine NOS TD6315AP IC is sold specifically for the D-405/D-105 pair, and the belt is readily available, so the two most likely failure points — drawer belt and the IC — are both addressable. Owners report recapping the power supply as a common modification, with one diyAudio thread describing the replacement of all capacitors around the power supply with audio-grade parts. That is standard practice for a 1984 player and not a sign of a design flaw. The honest summary: buy one because early Toshiba-built Luxman digital is interesting and cheap, not because it will appreciate. A $5 thrift find and a $3 belt is the realistic ownership story.
eBay Listings
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