Mark Levinson No.512 CD Player---Opinions

First Stereophile has not reviewed the 512.

Bad news about the 512.

The last week in February, I went to play a cd on my 512 and the left channel had failed. Very soon, the left channel for the SACD playback would fail too.

My dealer did everything right and everything a dealer should do! And more! He kept pestering ML and they did not respond with an answer nor with a “RA” for over a month, but krept promising they’d get right back to him

Finally, I also called ML. Three weeks after I called I got a RA but learned that virtually all of the 512s had failed! The failure was so complete that all the units were being replaced, not repaired. I was told that something was failing on the grounding, the electronics that made it so silent on playback was shorting out.

I got back a new unit on Thursday. It is interesting that the items on the 512's display have changed. When you turn it on it says "Esoteric" not "Mark Levenson 512". It also says SACD 2 Ch instead of just SACD when an SACD was being played. ML assured me that that was just due to a software update, they use Esoteric transport, and will not affect their sound.

It’s just not what a company wants, advertising the competitor, I bet.

It sounds fine, but now I will have to wait some time to make sure.

Unlike Lefisc, my experience with Mark Levinson was great. Harold and Richard, in Tech Support, supplied me with a Technical Service Bulletin and modified circuit board to correct a potential grounding problem. Received the part via next day air and the dealer did the installation. Mark Levinson is a great company and the No. 512 is a great sounding player.

Whew! I am back from my weeks of straight work!
The No.512 was played through Salon 2's as well as Focal Scala Utopia III's. Both sounded great but I assume that it was a combination of the No.53's and the No.512 that made the system sing. I was aware of the failures and I was assured that that ML would stand behind theor products. I am not new to this hobby and I will tell anyone that I would rather buy from a $4 Billion dollar company like Harman that some of the small outfits as i have been repeatedly disappointed by the small guys. Dont get me wrong, I want the underdog to win but I keep being left high and dryby these guys.
UPDATE: I am buying the No.512 tomorrow and I will report as to my findings against my Burmester player.

Great to hear back from you Pkancel.

Are you going to be running the 512 directly to the 53s or will you be using a preamp?

What cabling are you using? I have the Studio 2's and will be upgrading soon to the new Stereovox Dragon line of speaker cables and interconnects?

Looking fwd to your findings.

I need to put out some friendly advice for my friends online who are considering buying a Mark Levinson product. Let me tell you what has happened with my Mark Levinson 502 and 512.

First I had had trouble with my Mark Levinson 40. I live in New York and there are no longer any Mark Levinson dealers in New York or New Jersey. I decided to trade in the Mark Levinson 40 for the 502. I did want the upgrades, I also want to get rid of the problems I had with the 40 that’s a Mark Levinson company was not equipped to fix. They kept promising me resolutions such as a new or refurbished unit and I never got it. The only reason I decided to get the other two products was that a friend of mine worked for Harman Kardon and said that they have straightened things out and that they were moving to New York. Within six months of their move to New York they announced that they were closing down their New York offices. Had I known that….

Mark Levinson 502: the first two units I got would not turn on. The third unit is slightly quirky but works. I do have to reboot it every couple of weeks. It may not be its fault, but I don’t know.

When I first got the Mark Levinson 512, a sacd/cd player it was the best sounding unit I ever heard. However, the first unit did not work the draw would not open or close. It is the second unit that sounded wonderful. Until a month later when it failed completely. I was told that virtually all of those units made had to be recalled. The third unit also failed. in addition to having sound problems the software was not correct for the machine. It had Esoteric software and not Mark Levinson. Let me be clear, the menu functions did not fully relate to the functions of the machine. I do not know if that is what affected the sound. I have waited almost ½ a year for the next unit to be sent to me. They don’t have any in reserve. When they got in new ones in it took about a month for them to be able to ship it.

A poster mentioned that he was informed by his dealer of the grounding problem that took out the machines. He mentioned that the dealer enabled him to get the part and the instructions to put it in. This confirms the universal problem. I used was just not assessable. I couldn’t get a loaner machine, more than that, he had a new machine that worked well but would not give it to me. Eventually he had told me that he was giving up on the Mark Levinson line and he would only help me if I were to buy a Krell unit, which had not been released. If he was local I would have gone in and complained loudly. Sadly, he had speakers that I might have wanted, but I have gone somewhere else.

At any price this is not worth the time the trouble the aggravation and the lack of a CD player. These can be great products but my great suggestion to you is to wait until the company is straightened out, that they get more dealers (which means that they are working with dealerships to get customers) and they have a reservoir of units to replace those that are defective. They are behind, that their own website does not list their current products, like the 512. Many people are surprised that the 512 is out there because it’s not listed anywhere.

But let me be clear: once I got to ML they were professional, friendly, helpful and basically terrific. They were frustrated too. HK is going through reorganization. I am just suggesting that you wait until there are done!

Sorry this is long, but I wanted to share this.