Luxman's flagship belt-drive turntable: a heavier platter, a stronger motor and a 10-inch SAEC-designed tonearm, with room for a second arm.
The PD-191A replaces Luxman's long-running PD-171 series. A high-torque brushless DC motor with sine-wave PWM and PID control, referenced to a MEMS clock, drives a 35 mm thick, 5.2 kg (11.5 lb) platter machined from a single aluminum billet. The spindle runs in a brass radial bearing on a PEEK thrust pad. The platter, bearing and arm hang from a 15 mm aluminum top plate, while the motor and its float-mounted power transformer sit on a separate damped bottom plate. Large adjustable feet level the deck. The included LTA-710 tonearm was developed with SAEC. It is a static-balance, S-shaped universal arm with a 256 mm (about 10-inch) effective length, a concealed knife-edge bearing, a removable headshell and 22 mm of height adjustment. The arm base is removable, so other 9- to 10-inch arms can be fitted, and an optional external base takes a 12-inch arm. A reflected-LED strobe shows speed at a glance.
The Absolute Sound found the PD-191A tonally neutral rather than warm. Compared with the PD-151, it has more authority, scale and grip on big orchestral and rock recordings, a slightly lower background, and a stronger sense of drive. HiFi News praised its precision and speed stability, and measured low rumble. The LTA-710's medium effective mass (about 15 g measured) suits most moving coils and many moving magnets. The Absolute Sound also had good results with higher-compliance pickups. The arm has no azimuth adjustment, so if that matters to you, plan on a headshell or cartridge that provides it. It plays 33⅓, 45 and 78 rpm and ships without a cartridge. Luxman's LMC-5 is the obvious in-house match.
| Drive | Belt drive (EPDM belt), brushless DC motor with sine-wave PWM/PID control and MEMS reference clock |
| Speeds | 33⅓, 45 and 78 rpm (each adjustable ±6%) |
| Wow and flutter | 0.04% W.R.M.S. or less |
| Platter | Machined from a single aluminum billet, 35 mm thick, 5.2 kg (11.5 lb) |
| Tonearm | Included: LTA-710 (co-developed with SAEC), static-balance S-shaped universal arm, concealed knife-edge bearing |
| Effective length / overhang | 256 mm (about 10 in) / 16 mm |
| Effective mass | About 15 g (HiFi News measurement) |
| Cartridge weight range | 4–11 g (17–24 g with headshell) |
| Arm-height adjustment | 22 mm |
| Second arm | Removable arm base for 9–10 in arms; optional external base for a 12 in arm |
| Cartridge | Not included |
| Phono cable | Detachable DIN-to-RCA (included) |
| Dimensions (W × H × D) | 19.3 × 5.0 × 15.7 in (491 × 128 × 399 mm; height to platter surface) |
| Weight | 54.7 lb (24.8 kg) |
| Dust cover | 4 mm acrylic, sold separately |
Watch The Absolute Sound's video preview of the PD-191A from AXPONA 2023.
Pearl Audio is an authorized Luxman dealer. The PD-191A is on demonstration in our Portland showroom.