Why not ML in the Manufacturer forum?
 

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right forum section for my question but I try...

Why is there no section for Mark Levinson in the Manufacturers section on this forum? I find that strange. I fought that ML is a rather big and common brand?

Mark Levinson isn't nearly as popular as it used to be. I haven't had any interest in the line for many years. :dunno:

Ok, thanks for quick answer. I thought ML still was a rather big brand in USA.
I got an offer to buy a No328S pre-amp and checked some reviews and the reviews was all fantastic. "One of the best pre-amps in the market" so I am surprised of your answer. I thought they still build fine high end equipment.
Maybe I should look at something else instead?

Investigate and give a listen with the ML gear if you care to. The product is great. Don't let the lack of a forum discussion group here sway your ears.

Lassej.......To be honest, when I saw your thread title I thought it was about Martin Logan speakers.

Ok, thanks for advice! I will give it a listen.

Yeah, you are right. Did not think of that. Sorry.

Levinson was popular in the 90's up to around 2005. You don't hear much about it anymore. At one time their service department was really bad. I don't know if that got straightened out or not. I have seen their ads lately in DuPont Registry. It looks like they are trying to be a lifestyle type of company. Of course that is just my opinion.

Mark Levinson had a serious issue with their No 331,332,333 amplifiers caused by bad Phillips capacitors. I don't know the details but what I have read is they would get hot and start leaking prematurely. So hot in fact that some insulation material in the amps melted and leaked out the back around the IEC connector. They apparently were good sounding amps but did not have great reliability. I suspect that fiasco hurt their brand for the last decade.

I currently have a buddy's number 333 that needs new capacitors. We have Cornell Dubulier caps on order and I will attempt the replacement when they arrive.

Overall, my buddy was very happy with his ML CD player which he used as a preamp and his No333 until the caps started going. He pared it all with B&W 801s and Transparent cabling. He swears by that system.

Their latest integrated was well received here in Europe: EISA Award 2015-2016.

http://tooloud.co/wp-content/uploads...No.-585-14.jpg

http://images.cdn.whathifi.com/sites...?itok=GUkMD83a

Having been involved in the manufacture of electronics, quality issues do crop-up sometimes. Most companies try to find suppliers they trust to provide high quality parts at the right price and trust them to do the quality (inspection) work for them. This saves time and money in the receiving inspection process.

It also got a great review in Stereophile. It is on my personal list of potential replacements for my current integrated amp and standalone DAC. I really enjoy simplicity in my main living area system as my wife uses it as well as me. An integrated amp with a nice DAC is a perfect all in one solution for me.

I saw a few Mark Levinson pieces at the store I visited yesterday in Santa Barbara. Not a ton but a few pieces. They carried a lot of McIntosh, Meridian, Marantz, B&W, Linn, etc. Had some very cool Wilson speakers also...

It was very well received in Sweden too. "best buy" in Swedish hifi press.

The new Mark Levinson 585 integrated amplifier looks handsome.


http://www.hifi-and-friends.de/wp-co...-585-front.jpg


From Australian Hi-Fi:

The No 585 is a fully discrete, mirror-imaged dual-monoaural 200-watt per channel integrated amplifier with a high-resolution 32-bit/192kHz D/A converter on board (complete with asynchronous USB input). The power supply and amplifier sections are fully linear, with the output stage using Class AB mode. Volume control is via 15-bit R-2R ladders and there’s a switchable second-order 80Hz crossover to allow seamless integration into 2.1-channel systems. The amplifier/DAC has four analogue inputs, and six digital inputs and the 200-watt per channel rating is into 8 ohms, with the amplifier rated as delivering substantially higher power levels into 4 ohm and 2 ohm loads.

I do agree that it does look nice.

I did hear the No. 52 preamp last year, which is their reference pre. It did sound OK for a SS pre but the speakers were Focal of which have never been at the top of my list thus it was tough for me to really critic this piece.