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Mark Levinson Sound that Speaks for Itself |
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#1
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Mark Levinson No536 - Why so many for sale?
Just wondering as I go through Audiogon why there are so many of the new Mark Levinson No536 Mono amps selling relatively inexpensively? Almost half price! Are they not selling or are they just not very good? Anyone hear them yet?
Thanks George |
#2
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Heard them at my dealer thought they sounded excellent.
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System: ML:5206,5302 Serafino's Nordost Lumin U1 RM15 |
#3
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I own two of them, I was among the first two waves of shipments when they first shipped in December 2015 / January 2016.
I suspect my experience occurred across the USA: I got extreme discounting. Consider that Harmon makes its profit from sales to Automotive corporations. Managing their brand to drive those high margin business to business arrangements necessitates high end brands and new product releases therein. The opportunity to make a profit by reselling what a dealer sold to a customer at crazy prices is what I assume you are seeing on Audiogon. As for their sound? Even though I could make some money, mine aren't for sale. I clearly enjoy them a lot! The dealer where I purchased my B&W's 800's demos the 800 Diamonds with MC 601's and a MC preamp. I bought the Levinson for more than the 601 cost, indicating my preference. There's nothing wrong with the 536's. In fact, they are a great value at the price seen on Audiogon. They deserve the praise heaped on them by the experienced reviewers Greenhill and Kessler. I owned the 536 for about 7 months before I added a preamp, the ML No. 523, and they really bloomed with the 523. I'm ecstatic about how they sound! I can't wait to hook the still unboxed Salon2's to them! |
#4
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Glad to hear you're enjoying the amps and thanks for the insight. Were you able to compare the 523 to the Reference 52?
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#5
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The potential answer to that question concerns me, since the 523 is newer...
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Christian south: Mark Levinson No. 52 pre, Bricasti M28 amps, Lumin A1, Oppo BDP-205, Pioneer CT-43, Sony SS-AR1 Speakers, Audioquest Dragon PCs, Audioquest speaker cables, Audioquest interconnects, HB Power Design Powerslave Star Galaxy power distributor north: Vitus SIA-030, Luxman D10X, Sony TC-KA3ES, Harbeth 40.2, Siltech cables Last edited by rnrmf1971; 09-17-2018 at 12:05 AM. |
#6
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I'm sure the 52 is still better!
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#7
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I have no place to go (that I know of) to experience the 52, so I'm not optimistic that I'll be able to do a comparison.
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#8
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I actually found a place here in Dallas that has a 52, a pair of 53's and a pair of JBL K2's. First, it didn't work ... employee said the system got struck by lightening some time ago and has never worked again. Next ... all of that was in a room that was literally maybe 8X8 at best with the chair in the door to the room.Talking about an expensive pair of headphones! They are a JBL Synthesis home theater store(they sell kitchen stuff too and its not BB) that only has this system really as a museum piece and the employees didn't even know what it was other than it was some really expensive stuff that used to sound real good. They freely admitted they've never sold any! No surprise there! I called the other dealer here in town but I'm not hopeful that they will have anything to demo as they don't answer the phone and I'm guessing they do home theater and order other lines on an as needed basis kind of on the side.
That same store did have another location down the road a bit so I went for a ride and they did have a 585 with a pair of Revel's with a Marantz SACD player and it was in a slightly bigger area(not much) and it sounded like it had potential. Room too small and really inexpensive interconnects to say the least so it would have been impossible to make a buying decision based on the sound. They did at least get in touch with the area rep and said they would find out what equipment he had at home and try and arrange a demo at his house with whatever equipment he had on hand. Surprising that a company can afford to demo this kind of equipment without the hope of selling any? Home Theater market must be good here! George |
#9
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It seems to me, based upon an observation window of only 30 months, that Harmon has not attempted to cultivate a presence on premise at high end audio dealers across the US. They've clearly committed engineering to new product introductions via the Mark Levinson brand, so I can only theorize that retail growth of ML must not be part their strategy.
I'll say this though, this new ML stuff sounds VERY good. I wish more people could readily audition it. |
#10
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Quote:
George |
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