K-8 is the deck from the second line of the Luxman and represents the Studio Standard Serie. Customed by Lux Corporation, it was made in Japan by Kinsuido of Osaka in 1980. It is a high-quality, metal tape-compatible cassette deck with logic-controlled touch button operation, an FL peak value display unit, and a digital tape counter. The frequency response is 20Hz to 20kHz on the metal tape, and the machine has flexible operation and tasteful styling. Among the standard features, the K-8 has a 12-dot fluorescent peak level indicator, a fluorescent tape counter, the Bias fine trim pot, a Rec Mute switch, a Timer & Auto play/rewind/repeat functions, and an optional wired remote control. With the help of a small screwdriver, you can subtly adjust the playback azimuth of the tape recorded by another deck. There is a theory that the Alpine might have contributed to the K-8 for heads, pots, and switches. The second line of the Luxman had great cassette decks. The K-8 was the first to address manufacturing costs by doing away with bulky steel boxes, substituting vinyl for veneer, and other such measures. At the beginning of the 80-s, the K-8 was a cute functional piece of equipment.
You can't go wrong with Fluorescent Meters plus they blended in the digital readout, very nice. I'm trying to figure out what the vertical white line is right after the Dolby Mark?
Ok, now this is a vibe! I love Luxman and during this era, they created arguably some of their best stuff. During this time, they had the Studio Standard Series, Studio Reference Series, and Laboratory Reference Series. The Lab stuff is insanely pricy nowadays, and I've never witnessed them in the flesh, but wow did they look cool! Luxman was some of the first 'nice' stuff I got into. I remember being a freshman in College and finally scraped up enough cash to get a decent Luxman amp! (Luxman L-5). Bought it local from a dude, and it paired with some old JBL speakers was my formal introduction to HiFi. This wasn't the top of the mountain deck (that award went to the K15 at this time), but this has a lot of the features you would want in a cassette deck. Full logic control, bias fine, MPX, and the digital tape counter. Really cool piece, thanks for sharing
The only Luxman I've seen outside of Tokyo was on a lonely curb in Paris, someone must have gotten kicked out. I'm not sure what the unit is, it looks like a preamp? I did take the headshell and 45 adapter, sorry everyone else. The Speakers are Allison Acoustics which seem to go for good money these days. I only had a backpack and wasn't prepared to carry any of it.
LOL that's a sad looking setup there. Looks almost as if some club owner got mad at the DJ and tossed all of their stuff out. LOL 'Why you playin breakbeat in here?? I asked you for TRANCE!' ... or maybe he got caught spinning the wrong kind of Eric Prydz. That is an integrated. Most likely a Luxman L-2 since it's missing the speaker select switches. Missing a knob too! Similar to the one I used to have. The L-2 is puny. 30wpc. And It sounds pretty anemic too. I would have probably left it... especially given the condition.
This is a nice deck, Luxman seemed to be very inventive in deck design. They built decks with holes in the cassette compartement, and with the matching cassettes, - like here http://www.thevintageknob.org/luxman-XM_tapes.html , you was able to adjust the cassette mechanism during play or record.
Wow, I'll have to check that out more, very interesting. Soluna, any idea if Alpine supplied some of the parts?
I think Luxman K-8, and K-10 are for example the decks with the possibility to adjust. Here you can see a closer view https://www.audioscope.net/luxman-k10-p-1604.html?language=de I nearly bought a XM 60 cassette, but price was too high.
I got on the link, I'll have to go through this but now it's 70 degrees outside and sunny, warmest day in a long time. Unfortunately a ton of cool websites have disappeared over the years. https://web.archive.org/web/20120513211921/http://www.hifi-studio.de/hifi-klassiker/luxman.htm
That line is indicating a magnetic fluxivity of 200nWb/m, which happens to correspond exactly with the ANSI Dolby level. Picture is taken from an angle, so there is some parallax error, but to me it looks like that mark is either aligned or very close to the Dolby mark on the VU-meter. This deck seems to use a Nakamichi scale, where the Dolby mark is at 0dB. https://www.walkman-archive.com/articles/guide-excellent-recordings_05.html
