Integrated Amplifiers

The Luxman brand is one of Japan’s oldest, and almost from the start has prided itself on using in-house technology – a commercial imperative in the early days of audio, but more recently to achieve the kind of quality for which its engineers strive. Founded in 1925 in Osaka and still manufacturing in Yokohama, it began as a picture-framing company before branching out into radios as the Lux Corporation when broadcasts began in Japan. It achieved prominence from the 1970s onwards with its valve amplifiers, but in the mid-’80s was sold to Alpine Electronics, best-known for its in-car products, and the new owners decided to chase mass-market sales in major US retail chains. The fit was never an easy one – the brand values somewhat at odds with each other – and eventually Luxman reverted back to being a Japan-only brand, being sold off by Alpine just ten years after it was bought. Since 2009, Luxman has been part of the IAG stable, along with the likes of Quad and Wharfedale, where it has benefited from wider distribution into a larger number of European countries, along with the USA.