Luxman WL500 (1971)
The Luxman WL500 is a solid-state FM/AM tuner released in December 1971 at ¥69,500. It was developed to sit alongside the SQ500X series of amplifiers. It was Luxman's early-1970s attempt at a serious FM front end, and the specification sheet shows they pulled out all the stops for the period.
The FM section uses a dual-gate MOS-type FET in the front-end RF amplifier and frequency conversion stages, with a four-gang variable capacitor for selectivity. The IF stage combines three ICs with a block filter. Luxman claimed this gave selectivity comparable to a crystal filter, with phase characteristics clean enough to reduce distortion. The multiplex decoder is switching-type with a crosstalk cancellation circuit. A low-pass filter cutting everything above 16 kHz was added to suppress carrier leakage. A high-blend noise filter for weak stereo signals was included as an attachment.
The WL500 also carries some useful extras for the serious FM user. There is a two-meter system with independent signal strength and center-tuning meters, a pure electronic muting circuit, and an antenna attenuator for strong-signal situations. It has a multipath detection terminal, and the output stage was designed to drive most oscilloscopes directly. That means you can watch multipath distortion on a scope without extra amplification. The AM section is more modest: one RF stage and two IF stages with a wide-band transformer, plus strong AGC to keep distortion down in high-field areas. The power supply is a constant-voltage design.
Audio Database records the full specification set, including FM sensitivity of 1.7 µV (IHF), a capture ratio of 1.5 dB, and stereo separation of 40 dB at 400 Hz. FM distortion is rated at no more than 0.2% mono and 0.5% stereo. The tuner covers the Japanese FM band of 76–90 MHz, weighs 7.8 kg, and measures 450 × 160 × 268 mm.
The release timing is slightly contested. Audio Database says December 1971, while a Dutch reference site suggests "around 1970." Beyond that, surviving documentation is thin. No period reviews, no common-failure lore, and no collector consensus have surfaced in the research. A single 2026 eBay listing from Retro Audio Berlin asked €1,249 for an excellent-condition unit. Manuals and schematics are available through enthusiast sources.
eBay Listings
As an eBay Partner, we earn from qualifying purchases. This helps support our independent vintage technology research.