Mark Levinson 39

Samuel:

May I direct your attention to the thread "Upgrade Advice" dated 3/12; and the thread "My Mark Levinson System Help" dated 4/9. It's said the man who forgets history is doomed to repeat it, it appears the man who doesn't know history is doomed to make a fool of himself. Well done!

As to your psychological diagnoses and proclivity to prescribe medications (regardless of how inappropriate they may be for the malady you misdiagnosed), you would be well served to get the requisite education before playing Doctor on the net. But thanks for your concern.

Lev - have you considered mail order for the 39? I gotta believe there's a dealer somewhere out there that would give you a decent return policy, particularly on this level of gear. (But really, you know what you want, stop agonizing and go for it!)

chas

DO PEOPLE UNDERSTAND WHY I PUT THIS POST UP? ITS FOR ADVICE NOT SARCASISM. $6,000 IS ALOT TO INVEST. SO IT IS WISE TO DO YOUR RESEARCH. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAD GOOD ADVICE AND F--- ALL THE SMART ASS PEOPLE THERE IS A COMIC SECTION FOR THEM....

lev: do you really want advice? ok, here's mine: don't buy the ml39. save a few hundred $$ more and wait for an accuphase 75v to show up on audiogon. you can run this one-box player direct, too. and, IMHO, it will, in fact, blow away your theta miles AND your ml "dream machine." i know you may find this hard to accept, but there are more people who believe that ml is NOT the be-all-and-end-all of highend gear than those who do; if this weren't true, then ml would have few, if any, competitors. fact is, ml has hundreds of competitors. as others have pointed out before: not everyone likes strawberry ice cream; that's why baskin-robbins used to make 31 flavors. just cuz your screen name is "lev" doesn't preclude you from tasting another kinda cone. and, you might even like it. happy hunting. -kelly

Cornfedboy maybe I will check that out. Thank you for your help. People understand I think the high end audio industry has alot to offer, is Levinson the best no. are there other companys that also offer great products of equal or greater sound yes. I just happen to love what I own and can everyone say that for what they own NO. I have had the other brands and I prefer what Levinson gives you interms of performance.

I owned an No.39 for 3 years, during which time I went back and forth on the issue of running it direct vs. using a separate pre-amp. There is a clarity and purity and image stability you get by running direct, which is mighty appealing. But when I would add a pre-amp, I always appreciated the extra ooomph I got out my system. With a high-gain amp or highly efficient speakers, it might have been a different story.

The Levinson is a great product, but it may be getting a little long in the tooth when it comes purely to the sonics of CD playback. In order to get it all in one box, including volume control, I don't think you will be getting the best CD playback available for $6K. The No. 37 transport in it is superb, but the No. 36 DAC is fair to middling by today's high-end standards, I think. -Dan