Luxman stopped making integrated amplifiers in the early 2010s. They decided the future was separates—a preamp here, a power amp there, all the flexibility of building your own system without the compromise of forcing both halves into one chassis. The L-590AXII, released in 2016, was the final statement before that pivot, and it carries the weight of a company saying goodbye to a format they'd owned for forty years.
This is not the L-505 or the L-507. Those were integrated ampliflers in the traditional sense—preamp and power amp sharing the same transformer, the same real estate, the same electrical constraints. The 590AXII is different. It's a 60-watt integrated that sounds like a power amplifier because, functionally, it almost is one. Luxman used a compact, purpose-built preamp section sourced from their LB-590 power amp, married it to a pure Class A output stage (up to about 20 watts in Class A before it slides into Class AB), and then handed you a piece of gear that sounds less like a compromise and more like a deliberate choice.
The preamp section is where you hear the DNA of Luxman's analog philosophy—passive RIAA equalization, transformer-balanced inputs, and a phono stage that's quiet enough for moving-coil cartridges without sounding analytical or thin. You can run turntables through this thing and get the kind of dimensionality that only happens when a preamp isn't fighting to do too many jobs at once. The power amp section drives speakers with the kind of composure you expect from something built to partner with external preamps—it's not trying to sound warm or forgiving. It sounds accurate, which means it reveals everything about what's playing through it.
The build quality is exactly what you'd expect from Luxman in 2016. The chassis is aluminum, the transformer is oversized and shielded, the power supply has capacitors rated for industrial applications. There's a remote control that feels expensive in your hand. The faceplate is restrained—no unnecessary displays, just volume and input selectors and a power switch that clicks with intention. It's a piece of gear that doesn't beg for attention in a room. It earns it through sound.
Here's the honest part: 60 watts is not a lot of power. If you're running speakers that need current—anything below 85 dB sensitivity, anything with a difficult impedance load—this amp will reach its limits before the speakers do. It's not a bedroom amp, but it's not a room-filling monitor amplifier either. It's built for speakers that know how to work with what they're given. A pair of efficient standmounts, some vintage Spendors, anything in the 88-dB range and above will get the full picture. Below that, you're asking the amp to work too hard, and it'll tell you so.
The reason it's overlooked now is simple: Luxman moved on. They made the C-900U preamp and the M-900U power amp, and separates became the gospel. But for someone who doesn't want to manage cables between components, who trusts a designer's judgment about preamp and power amp pairing, who spins vinyl and wants a single source plugged into a single chassis—the 590AXII is the last, best version of that bargain.