Alpine AL-85
(1983 - 1984)

Although ALPS is still around, the AL-85 is very much forgotten today - it was however the original for the well-remembered Luxman K-05 !

The 1980/81 Alpine takeover had as side results the shortened life of several Luxman separates such as the C-5000a or the C-300 & M-300 combo and the gradual disappearance of Luxman record players and of the LUXKIT sub-brand. It also had Alpine making Luxman's cassette recorders (unlike before) and, if differences did stand between models, the Luxman recorders were all at 90% Alpine, just like Luxman turntables always had been engineered and built by Micro Seiki...

All that wasn't Luxman's traditional trade (ie. amplifiers, preamplifiers and tuners) was henceforth made by Alpine, if often designed by both "teams". The LV-109 series for instance is much more Alpine than LUX ; the rare CL-360 & MQ-360 tube combo is fully Luxman, albeit under Alpine ownership.
Throughout the 1980s, Luxman was a sort of four-headed brand (Luxman, Alpine/Luxman, Alpine, Luxkit) which made for crowded and overlapping lineups, complicated product-planning, complex distribution and advertising schemes, and a lot of unnecessary and completely avoidable losses - sic transit gloria mundi.

The Alpine AL-85 is the smaller Alpine AL-90 : same but without the B.L.E.S. analyzing system, aka C.T.S. by Luxman. In other words, it was to become the Luxman K-04, while the AL-90 was to become the Luxman K-05. Same decks, same mechanisms, same electronics - and both very far from the Luxman-planned X-3K 1982 prototype which Alpine didn't see any future in. The X-3K is btw what Luxman refers to in its historical rewinds as D-05 Omega-Load - whatever the name, it remained unproduced just the same, just as Luxman's last Micro Seiki OEM : the contemporary X-5P high-end turntable.

If Alpine had long since vanished from active direction of Luxman, Luxman kept its production built in Alpine factories until the full change of ownership in the mid 1990s, and probably later on for some of Luxman's traditionally plethoric lineups.