Luxman L-309

Luxurious mid-to-high-end amplifier which followed the L-308 and inaugurated LUX's staple Linear Equalizer.

Linear Equalizer is a 5-step up or down "tilt" to the preset RIAA curve, rotating the 1kHz-centered frequency response up or down : more bass & less treble or more treble & less bass.
There is too much compression and standardization today to justify a Linear Equalizer, but given the highly variable response curve of the recordings back then, this surely was uselful !

The regular tone controls are Lux's (other) staple NF controls with selectable center frequency.

The circuit is a fully-complementary DC power amp section with dual-rail power-supply and 3-stage DC EQ circuit for the phono - Single-Stage, Duo-ßeta, plus-X and Circuit /S were for later years.

Compared to the original L-308, the L-309 has an added back pot to attenuate the MAIN in input level and L/R MIC inputs with pull-on/off level pot instead of the tape 1 i/o jacks of the L-308.

Bar power output, the rest is the same : 2-position low cut, 2-position high cut, low boost, stereo/L/R/Mono (L+R)/Reverse, 3-position phono 1 impedance selector, tuner input level pot and 2-way dubbing/monitoring.

Beautiful, simple, healthy, shiny 1970s.


The L-309V version took over in late 1975 : exit the front tape i/os, replaced by the phono 1 impedance (previously located on the back) and 3-position muting switch (0dB / -10dB / -20dB), exit the MAIN in level pot and enter newer, bigger, speaker terminals.

Then the L-309X, c. 1978 replaced all, mainly doing away with the front MIC/MIX inputs and loop, swapping the regular trafo for a big toroidal, the regular volume pot with a proper 6-gang ALPS and probably circuits upgrades as well - an extra-rare and very brief version.



Inside a 309 here,
inside a 309X here.