Who heard the Mark levinson 53 monos?

A perfect argument as to why we should find reputable, reliable dealers and not only frequent them for their advice, but to purchase from the dealer. I am not a dealer. However, If my favorite Dealer, Stereo Design in San Diego, CA carries equipment that I am looking for, I will negotiate the price with that dealer (everything is negotiable to a point), and purchase from him. They will let me take equipment home for a week and audition. They require a credit card and will not charge the card if you return the item.

The dealers that won't give me the time of day (rare these days) I don't deal with. But, when people use the dealers to listen to equipment only and purchase on-line, then when dealers go out-of-business, the looky loo should not be suprised when they can't find a dealer.

remember, everything is negotiable.

enjoy

The reality is that products made by Harmon ((Levinson, Revel, and others) enjoy so little support from Harmon that many former dealers and custys will never invest their money in these products again . Under Madrigal the products were exceptional and a joy to own. Under Harmon's management service is an abomination and endless money pit, the products and parts are back ordered for months with dealers reducing product that fails out of the box. Not to mention the fact that their new CD player has been discovered to be little other than a modified Oppo in a very expensive box add to this the fact that many failed after a few hours and a new disaster resulted, Levison amps and preamps are now part of the Crown division (are they Crown in disguise?). I used to own a Levinson Reference system but because of Harmon's gross mismanagement dumped it all for other brands. I won't even consider investing in Levinson/Revel again unless Harmon sells the franchises to new investors. What a shame! I believe the above to be the reasons for the lack of interest in Levinson's new products.

Hi SGR, would you please tell me what (R)eference amplifiers YOU would buy (cost being a consideration but sound being the most important) ? they would have to be as close to "keepers" as you could get, regardless of the introduction of new technologies down the road.
the levinson 53's do have a number of innovations that MAY have considerable impact on the sound quality that other manufacturers lack. SO
barring their failure to work properly for the 1st 10 or so years, i again would ask someone to step forward and evaluate what they heard when playing well-recorded music. i am presently using a ML-326S preamp and ML-33H amplifiers and i am VERY PLEASED with the sound. in the past i had the 37 TRANSPORT/360S DAC and (again) was extremely happy with the sound (not forgetting the outstanding performance with HDCD recordings as well).
so for me it is hard to dismiss a line of components that have done about as good a job of getting you closer to real music as anything else out there regardless of price or country of manufacture. but rather than conjecturing that levinson amplifiers are now "crown in disguise" (the pictures of the internal components on their web site sure look similar to the #33's), i still need feedback from reviewers with excellent qualifications to write about what THEY heard.
there are of course some serious issues in getting a levinson component repaired- not the least of which is the COST. also (for example) repairing the venerable 31.5 transport may not be possible due to some of the parts that are no longer available (and this may apply to other components as well).
but whether or not you can boycott any and all products and services that harman int'l offers only compounds the problems they already have.
P.S.- and WHAT IF the ML53 AMPLIFIERS can send some serious chills down your spine, even after having heard some of the best amplifiers out there?
curious minds just want to know...

French Fries,
I did hear the 53 monoblocks briefly this summer in the Harmon traveling trailer that demos Levinson, Revel, and JBL. The sound was good, but voiced to impress. The technology used inside the trailer and the ability to move it all around across the country was SOTA I'm sure. It sure looked slick.

I'm certainly not going to knock the sound of the 33h. It is a great amplifier I and many others agree. A Madrigal design. I would hope that the 53 is incredibly better for the price. I've never said I didn't like the sound of the Levinson equipment made by Madrigal, (sorry I can't speak for equipment designed by Mark Levinson himself, I've never heard any). I invested thousands at the time and probably would again if the franchieses were renewed and supported again, like some other companies that have been revived, Marantz and McIntosh come to mind. I think the build quality and engineering were second to none in the industry under Madrigal. As for sound quality, my investments in Madrigal equipment(31.5 transport, 30.6 DAC, 360s DAC, #39 CD Player, #380 Preamp, #32 Preamp, #336 amplifier, two pair of #436 amplifiers, Revel Salons, and Revel Sub30 Subwoofers) make me a more than casual fan.

But the wait of over six months for a Salon midrange, a Salon returned from service with what appeared like and smelled like dog urine on the grill, my amps held captive for almost 9 months while Harmon employees were first locating my equipment, then "fixing" it, having the same amps shipped back and forth across the country multiple times only to be dead in the box on arrival, and then factor in the exorbinant amounts of money charged to repair the Levinson electronics if out of warranty by the only three (now only 2 service centers I believe) Levinson repair stations in the country is a road I will not take again. Let's not mention the termination of almost all the engineers and service techs employed by Madrigal who were working one day and unemployed the next.
Levinson has only been retructured and combined with other Harmon companies at least 3 times in the past since the demise of Madrigal. This was all caused because Harmon claims that Madrigal's companies were losing money. I'd sure like to see the balance sheets before Harmon raped Madrigal and were shipping fine products around the world compared to today's profit margin.

My advice, enjoy your 33hs and 326s preamp (both designed and voiced by Madrigal). They are both beautiful and excellent sounding gear. Find someone who can repair the the equipment locally if possible. And remember you're at Harmon's mercy for support and parts.

The big problemo is there are almost NO dealers and the few that are left are mostly home theater or custom system integrators (what ever the heck that is). Harman is to caught up in the ultra high end home theater market. It's too bad the really ended Madrical Labs, and now ML it is just a name like all the other Harman brands.