Mark Levinson 39 Drawer problem

Hi again, maybe let us know what your replacement will turn out to be, will you?
Having had a look about for some such, before my laser replacement, I had more than a hard time to find ANYTHING comparable, never mind at serious price multiples of say e.g. some Esoteric units (also ML31.5 top loader reference transport...) which by no means could convince me of their sq superority, and this in a much more 'magnificent' setting of sound optimised demo room, B&W 802 D3, et al. 🥴
So, it be interesting to learn your findings for my personal edification. 😉
Thank you, Michélle 

Michélle

I will keep you posted. My other unit is a 31.5 so I have means to listen to good music right now...

👍 ML 31.5, eh, such a lucky person!
And thanks again for your positive feedbacks. 
Michélle 

Update (as promised): Long story short: The 39 works again! I had several issues to deal with. First, I fixed a bad solder point with the result that the drawer started working (open and close). Then I had to deal with the non-spinning disk problem: There was a bad connection between the mainboard and the D/A board. Interesting enough, without connecting the D/A board, the CD would not spin. 
After a thorough cleaning and full assembly I tested the unit today on my system. Works great!

Bummer! I was hoping to get it off you cheap.

Good work with the perseverance, you got a killer R2R Multibit using 4 x PCM1704k (best ones ever) + PMD100 HDCD filter chip.
And with direct to amp digital volume control, it uses an output stage that would put many preamps to shame. 

Stereophile on the ML39
The ’39 really came into its own when I took the preamp out of the system and started using the variable output, digital switching, and digital processing.
You think your preamp is transparent? You’re probably wrong. I knew this, of course. Not even the best of ’em. So I was stunned by how good the ’39 sounded going straight in. It was fast and clean—and more. More depth, more dynamics, more detail, more air...
"Summing up, these measurements indicate the No.39 to be a superbly engineered design. Digital doesn’t get much better than this!"—John Atkinson

Just remember though, if that digital domain volume control is below <75% of maximum then you are going to start "bit stripping" (lowering the resolution)
If this is the case then install a passive preamp between the ML39 and the amp and adjust it’s volume and leave it, so the ML39’s remote digital volume control is then used at or above 75%.
This is what Wadia also found, that digital volume controls while fantastic have this flaw of "bit stripping" that’s why you’ll find opposition to going direct to amp, they just don’t know, or like the coloration’s/distortions preamps give.
Wadia did similar to ML but gave a fix if the volume was too low in their highend cd/dacs, inside using pins to set the output for different voltage gains, so their digital volume is used above 75% so there’s no chance of "bit stripping", here is Wadia’s instructions for it https://ibb.co/FzshFtV

Cheers George