2. amps-preamps
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Poor Man's Ferrari?

Starving artist with very intermittent income...non-audiophile-spouse is the breadwinner of the household. Intermittent-income-earner has eye on refurbished Mark Levinson No. 27 amps and No. 26 preamps on ebay which frequently show up at attainable-but-stretching-it prices. Are the potential audio world related pitfalls here as formidable as those oft heard horror stories about the blue collar guy who sinks a year's pay into a 1982 Ferrari 308 or is this sort of purchase a worthwhile goal for somebody on a really tight budget?
lg1
reubent
7,039 posts
 
Baranyi,

The issue with the Farrari story is that the guy stretched his budget to BUY the car and now can't afford to maintain it. The poster is asking if it would be the same issue with the MLs.

Lgl,

If I were on a tight budget, I would not buy the ML stuff. Depending on the speakers you plan to use, I would buy one of the many great integrated amps that are available today for a very decent price.

What are the speakers and source components you plan to use? What are you using today for amp/pre-amp?

Enjoy,

TIC
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
It's a 27.5 and a 26s you want, if you're going to dabble in that realm. The performance of the 27 and 26 are easily matched by other less expensive candidates.
lg1 OP
199 posts
 
Wow...I walked right into that one, lol! Please permit me to rephrase my buying-from-ebay statement to read as "I've been looking at used Mark Levinson No. 27 amps and No. 26 preamps". Reubent, I would be purchasing the ML amp/preamp to be used with JBL L-65 speakers, and a stock Music Hall MMF 5 turntable with the idea of upgrading source component(s) to match the ML's quality level over time as money permits. Right now I'm using a 12 yr old sony ES series HT reciever and have been wanting to move to a higher quality "minimalist" sort of 2 channel set up.
reubent
7,039 posts
 
Lgl,

I don't know that speaker, but if it's an older vintage JBL, I don't think you would need huge amounts of power to drive them. For well under $1000 you could get a nice Plinius Integrated amp or a Portal Panache. If you want to try tubes, go for something like the TAD 60 or Prima Luna's. I'll bet any of the above would sound great and save you a bunch of cash. I don't know about the Portal, but I believe most of the Plinius's have a phono stage built-in.

Enjoy,

TIC
oregon
825 posts
 
Stay away from eBay.
Post your questions but do offer more information about what you now have, what you are looking for (sound), type of music, digital, vinyl,etc.
We are always happy to give free advise. You get what you pay for, but in this case, you get tons more.
You also might consider paying an extra $30-$40 to access the Audio Blue Book. It is an excellent resource for knowing the relative value of the many components floating around.
Good luck. Be careful.
BTW, avoid looking at one name (ML), keep an open mind.
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