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Good upgrade from Levinson 33H's

I have been reading discussions on here and in audio reviews, looking for a good upgrade from my Levinson 33H's. First off, these are the best amps I have heard, but I have not heard many of the new wonder amps discussed on many threads here. I am running all Stealth cable, with the Genesis 4 tower speakers.....so the amp I choose to upgrade to, will be running only my Mids / Tweeters. Some, but not all, that I have interest in are, BAT, Joule, Lamm, MBL,CAT,Atma-sphere, Soulution......generally the usual suspects. Each seems to have it's good and bad points, or rather, supporters and critiques, probably depending on many occassions to what supporting equipment people may be using. I guess the bottom line here for me is, which amps in this list or not, would be a substantial upgrade from my Levinson 33H's.......I don't want a lateral move! To all those that will say.....you have to audition....and what do you like or what are you looking for....yes of course. However, without traveling the continent to audition them all in someone elses system, what should my short list be? Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences.
bullot
maxx1973
34 posts
 
I've owned the 33H also, great piece of equipment with excellent control of the speakers.
In the end I changed them for the Dartzeel as well. The Dartzeel has got stellar voices and is very transparent. But did found them slight to polite sounding especially in the bass. Also the where slightly to much of the same for me, little bit of a suger coat and for some music I prefer a raw voice/sound. Not sure if I explain it well. On classical music especially piano preferred the 33H.

Nevertheless both great pieces with a bit of a preference for the Dartzeel.

Don't have the Dartzeel anymore either :). Moved to the Vitus SM-101 monoblocks. Great voices, great control. Analog sounding but more realistic then the Dartzeel. To my taste the best I've heard so far. But.......I haven't heard everything:) :)

Bullot, if you are planning of changing amps,I would definitely try to audition the Vitus amp. In my opinion they are a level above the 33H and Dartzeel.

Good luck with your search
rtn1
535 posts
 
Keep the Levinsons.

Add a Tripoint Troy.

There is nothing wrong with your system. In fact, you have a great system. You just need to unlock its full capabilities. The Troy redefines what solid state can do. For me, it has become essential.
bullot OP
130 posts
 
Thanks to everyone for responding......some great comments and suggestions. Chuck, you mentioned the Levinsons were your second favourite, but I didn't see them on your lists, were the lists in order of favourites? Some very nice amps on those two lists chuck!

As for the Tripoint Troy, I will definately look into them, I have not done any reading on them to this point, so that is a good tip!

One thing I was wondering about was the upper end of some like the MBL 9008A or a Boulder........I'll keep reading on all these, and perhaps the Levinsons will hang around for a while longer.

Thanks again everyone!
changster
40 posts
 
Andy Payor from Rockport owns the 33H's. He said the Gryphon's (Antileon Signature or Colosseum) are better in every way by a a very big margin. It's pure class A as well and doubles its power all the way to 1ohm. I suspect the Pass XA.5 are supremely good too, but not sure how much power they put out below 4ohms as they do not state it in the specs and don't really want to say anything over the phone. Then again, with XA 160.x5 or 200.5 it probably doesn't matter if it keeps doubling below 4ohms.

33H's are legendary and I agree with a lot of the above posts where you don't need to upgrade unless you really find the next gem.
bullot OP
130 posts
 
Thanks Changster, I have looked at the Gryphons, big bucks! The feedback I'm getting from all the valued input of others, bassed on their experience, is telling me I do not need to race out and find something.........the 33H is still world class. That's good to hear......I can take my time move on only if something blows me away. Right now I think I'm going to concentrate on things like upgrading my power to them, ie., a 20Amp service instead of 15, some better receptacles, vibrations helpers, etc.
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