I agree with much of Bombaywalla's post just above, but I want to make a factual correction: While the earliest designs produced by the Mark Levinson Audio Systems company during the years it was owned by Mr. Levinson were indeed the work of John Curl, subsequently his chief designer was the late Tom Colangelo. Who subsequently followed Mr. Levinson to Cello Ltd., and as far as I know probably also to some of Mark's later companies.
I believe that the ML-1 preamplifier, ca. 1977, marked the transition point between the work of John Curl and Tom Colangelo for Mr. Levinson, with that design borrowing heavily from Mr. Curl's work on earlier Levinson products, but with Mr. Colangelo's work also being reflected in the design, especially in the external power supply.
Also, while the characterization of Mr. Levinson as a "ditz" is perhaps not entirely unfair, my impression is that he does deserve a good deal of credit for many of the important (and ultimately very influential) philosophical concepts which underlied the products of his original company. Namely keeping the signal path as simple as possible, eliminating controls and functionality that would usually do more harm than good, and implementing everything that remained to very high standards.
Regarding amplifier progress in general, though, I can't help but recall the pair of 1950's Marantz 2 monoblock tube amplifiers I owned (and unfortunately sold) during the early 1990's. When operated in triode mode and in conjunction with a benign and efficient speaker load, still among the best sounding amps I have ever heard.
Regards,
-- Al
I believe that the ML-1 preamplifier, ca. 1977, marked the transition point between the work of John Curl and Tom Colangelo for Mr. Levinson, with that design borrowing heavily from Mr. Curl's work on earlier Levinson products, but with Mr. Colangelo's work also being reflected in the design, especially in the external power supply.
Also, while the characterization of Mr. Levinson as a "ditz" is perhaps not entirely unfair, my impression is that he does deserve a good deal of credit for many of the important (and ultimately very influential) philosophical concepts which underlied the products of his original company. Namely keeping the signal path as simple as possible, eliminating controls and functionality that would usually do more harm than good, and implementing everything that remained to very high standards.
Regarding amplifier progress in general, though, I can't help but recall the pair of 1950's Marantz 2 monoblock tube amplifiers I owned (and unfortunately sold) during the early 1990's. When operated in triode mode and in conjunction with a benign and efficient speaker load, still among the best sounding amps I have ever heard.
Regards,
-- Al