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Luxman
LV-109
Luxman LE-109
(1986 - 1989)
...or : The last gasp of the pure Alpine
days.
Hidden
under depressingly black blocky looks, however, was excellent gear
: a carefully structured high-end integrated amplifier (LV-109,
with digital facilities and video throughput) and an external phono
preamp (LE-109, with an MC section).
Had
Alpine chosen a champagne or titanium grey finish, these surely
would have sold better : Luxman
is luxury is champagne is warm is brilliant is Luxman. But high-end
Luxman in black ? Also, besides the unrequested presence of video
switching, these were part of the much publicized BRID
series but no valves were used - another confusing contradiction.
The
LV-109, LE-109
and D-109 CD player were in
some markets replaced by the similarily looking but simplified and
less powerful LV-117,
LE-117 and D-117.
The japanese versions had a slightly different lettering and bore
a combined "Alpine / Luxman" logo - last mistake.
Alpine
was into Luxman until about the late 1990s but managed to not make
the same mistakes as on the 109 / 117 separates : the C-06,
C-06a, M-06, M-06a,
M-07a and many others sold extremely well. They were in champagne.
And they didn't have video switching embedded. |