Luxman L-200
Overview
The L-200 was the entry point of a three-model family Luxman built around a shared chassis. The service documentation for that family is unusually candid about what separates the siblings. The L-220 is rated at 50W per channel into 8 ohms at 1 kHz, the L-210 at 45W, and the L-200 at 40W. All three share the same 0.02% distortion figure and the same transformer bracket. The L-200 uses a different push switch (40T56652F01 vs 40T56667F01), and the green phono pilot lamp (65T56669F02) was used only on the L-220. Luxman didn't reinvent the amplifier for the cheaper model - it just asked less of it.
The L-200 is a compact integrated that weighs 6.7 kg net and measures 453 mm wide, 317 mm deep, and 111 mm tall. That's a shallow, wide box. The gross shipping weight was 8.0 kg, so the packaging added a little over a kilogram. Power consumption is listed at 120V 2A on the CSA-rated version in the manual.
The parts lists show the details. The tone control board uses a pair of 50KCx2 rotary potentiometers for bass and treble, with film capacitors at 0.0068 µF, 0.039 µF, 0.056 µF, and 0.27 µF doing the frequency shaping. The balance control is a single 250K rotary pot. The function switch is a rotary SRZ type. None of these are exotic parts. This amplifier was designed to be maintained.
The input section is conventional for the era but generous in scope. Phono (MM) input sensitivity is 1.8 mV with a 50 kOhm load, and the manual lists the phono overload point at 130 mV. That is enough headroom that a hot moving-magnet cartridge won't clip the stage. Line-level inputs (Tuner, Aux/DAD, Monitor) all sit at 160 mV into 40 kOhms. Signal-to-noise is quoted at 90 dB for phono with IHF-A weighting referenced to 5 mV, and 107 dB for the line inputs. Residual noise is 0.5 mV.
The filter section is more thorough than most integrateds of the period bothered with. There's a high cut at 7 kHz with a 6 dB/octave slope, a low cut at 70 Hz, and a dedicated phono subsonic filter at 15 Hz. That last one is the useful one, since it keeps turntable rumble and warp from eating amplifier headroom. Tone controls offer ±8 dB at 10 kHz for treble and ±8 dB at 100 Hz for bass. The loudness contour, referenced to the volume control at -30 dB, adds +8 dB at 100 Hz. Frequency response for the line inputs runs 10 Hz to 100 kHz within +0/-1.5 dB. The phono stage is tighter, 20 Hz to 20 kHz within ±0.5 dB.
Period coverage of the L-200 is thin. The documentation suggests this was the model you bought when you wanted Luxman build quality and couldn't stretch to the bigger sibling. Audio (May 1984, p.111) carried classified listings for Luxman tube preamplifiers like the CL-34, which shows the brand was present in the used-equipment market.
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