WOULD IT BE DUMB TO BUY A MARK LEVINSON NO 23.5

If you have Maggie's, the 23.5 was the cat's meow at the time. I remember it as having cavernous power reserves and rather liquid, but imagine it would be like owning an old Jaguar--good memories, but now a money pit and the company has moved on.

Send it to Pyramid audio in Austin, Texas.   They are a Levinson authorized service center.   I had them service my ML 33h.

Enjoy and good luck, 
Jose

The thing with vintage Levinson amps you should be aware of is not the power supply capacitors but the EMI suppression caps (Rifa PME271) across the mains voltage. These apparently do not age well and fail short, creating a fire hazard. I had one of these fail on my Levinson 20.6 -- saw a wisp of smoke and shut it down, and still there was burn damage on the pcb. Then I replaced all those caps in both amps.

(Here is a picture of a 23.5 for sale as is for parts:
https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649367673-mark-levinson-235-for-parts-or-possible-repair/images/1595023/
the fire started at the front of the amp where the power supply board is located).

When I got my 23.5, the first thing i did was to replace all of the EMI caps. It was a bear of a job because both heat sinks had to be removed to get to the front board and then there was the spaghetti nest of wiring to contend with. The power supply caps were easy to replace since they are held in place by cap brackets and the wires are connected by screw terminal to eyelet lugs. You can move the heat sinks out of the way without desoldering any wires since there is JUST enough play in the wires for the caps to clear.

Worth it? IMO you would have to spend upwards of $20k to get the same kind of low end unlimited current delivery performance.

It’s the most breakable brand in the gear!
And it's very expensive to fix
And it's very expensive to fix...
It's the most breakable brand in the gear!

Tadam!!!

@testpilot
Yes, taking anything apart can be a pain. Try real consumer gear, made to NOT be fixable....
But I would not have expected them to obscure parts values, unless its a very unusual, secret way of using a part. But cap voltages? really? That also means they are buying custom runs - which simply drives up cost on parts that one ought to be able to get from distributor stock.

I had a JC-1 and some later stuff that was clear as day. But that, admittedly, is ancient history.
Anyway, if they are, its a good point.
I'd just measure the DC values and work backwards though.  they can't obscure those!