Integrated Amp as headphone amp
Apr 29, 2003 at 1:46 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 6
tbrim

tbrim

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I have a mid-80's circa Luxman hybrid integrated amp. It has two triode tubes at the pre-driver stage. This amp has served me quite well powering a similar era pair of B&W speakers. I am getting so-so performance out of it's headphone jack, although I haven't really run it through it's paces yet. My question is this - Could someone modify this amp to maximize its performance as a headphone amp? Anyone know?

It's a Luxman LV-103.

Thanks.
 
Apr 29, 2003 at 1:52 PM Post #2 of 6
The easiest «modification» is to buy an RCA-plugs --> ¼"-jack adapter and plug your headphones into the pre-amp output.

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Apr 29, 2003 at 7:07 PM Post #3 of 6
Thanks JaZZ - I've already done that. Maybe I wasn't clear. The output from the jack wasn't that impressive, and I was wondering if anything could be done about it. The amp itself is very nice, it just isn't enough to drive my current speakers, so I was wondering about using it as a headphone amp. But, I want to know if people out there ever tackle modding an amp, integrated or otherwise to make them better for headphones.
 
Apr 30, 2003 at 12:25 AM Post #4 of 6
A quick search of reviews of your Luxman indicates that this amplifier is never going to be a great headphone amplifier. Also, the tubes are used only as part of a buffer circuit, so choosing different tubes would have no effect on the sound of this unit.

You did not mention what type of headphones you are planning to use. It would be best to pick your headphones and then research what type of amplifiers works best with them.
 
Apr 30, 2003 at 12:28 AM Post #5 of 6
Check to see if the headphone jack uses op amps to run the output. If so, try popping in some appropriate AD or OPA op amps to reaplce the REALLY cheap and sucky op amps that are there from the factory.

If it uses solid state, find out what they are, resistors, caps, whatever, and replace them with some better, more audiophile parts.
 
Apr 30, 2003 at 3:52 AM Post #6 of 6
Another option is to get a device for converting speaker post output to a headphone jack (The ASL UHC or the Moretto/Radii HAP-4)
 
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