80s Levinson Gear - Best Repair/Refurbish?

 Was looking at a used Levinson and researched repair/recap costs cost eventually would need it.   The two places With known Levinson knowledge and experience are George Meyer in LA and Pyramid in Texas.  George Meyer ball-parked service and recap at $1800 to $2500 (cause was never serviced) could be more or less :-).  Pyramid on their website talks about 30 hours needed to service a the amp ai was looking at so guess same price range.  Thats not including packing and roundtrip shipping of the heavy unit.  I passed, for $$$$$ purchase and recap cost would rather go with a newer amp.

BTW I am in Chicago area too.  Not aware of any local places.  You can try Deltronics or Midwest to see if they would tackle it.

Wow, thanks for the information.  I mean, you can find working Levinson 23s for less than $1800 to $2500 but I suppose they would eventually have the same issues.  Still, that seems disproportionate to the value.  Yeah, I can't afford $2600-$5000 to have these pieces serviced.  Ouch.  

pyramid talks about the various levinsons on the site.  Its good reading.  The 23 is the 30 hour unit discussed.   Its a bear to work on.

I see what you mean. Here's a quote from Pyramid:

"So the bill for overhauling the No23 or No23.5 typically runs about $3000, maybe a fifth of the replacement cost."

So is a refurbished ML 23 worth $15,000 or at least competitive with a $15k amplifier?  That seems hard to believe, or they wouldn't be going for around $2000.