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Finally Heard the Mark Levinson 53 Amps

THANKS to HARMAN for lending a pair of 53's to a local dealer (who in turn brought them over for an audition) i can now comment on this product. after a few years of
wondering how they compared to my Levinson 33H monoblocks, which to me sounded supremely transparent, there is a very noticeable lowering of the noise floor still further. the problem is that you need exceptional recordings to get the most out
of this difference. so on one cd there seems little or no improvement in revealing further detail, or a larger stage, etc. while on a truly outstanding disc there is an unmistakeable 25% or so improvement in minute details and 3-D realism. i also
pulled some good aftermarket power cords out of the closet and that helped quite a bit.
french_fries
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
I heard them at CEDIA. They are impressive class D hybrid amps.
french_fries OP
815 posts
 
TO CONTINUE-(earlier i couldn't seem to enter any more words past "bit" )--
if you like the Levinson Reference Sound- to me it's very neutral neither tubey or dry- then the 53's simply continue along the same line. these amps had very few hours on them when i started to try them out. also my cables need to be re-calibrated (Transparent) to optimize their performance- preamp to amps, amps to speakers. and then there is the question of investing in some even better power cords and/or conditioners since the stock cords seemed to limit the performance as well. and unquestionably it is time to get into high-definition audio from the internet since my new components are at level that 70% or more of my CD collection doesn't seem to offer any additional musical information.
AS FOR THE PRICE- well sometimes, at least for me, and especially in this instance, the local dealer offers delivery, set up, updating my wires, warrantee service, etc. that justify the expenditure. i have been dealing with this store for over 20 years as well. and it was a super pleasure to walk into the living room, switch the 53's on, and spend a full week evaluating them. FINALLY, i'll take a wild guess at this point that the latest offerings from Vitus, Soulution, Krell, etc. are going to do many of the same things the ML-53's are doing.
hotmailjbc
571 posts
 
just curious...why would a company like levinson not put a great ac cord on their amp? people buying levinson arn,t cutting corners so is levinson's engineers not using the best wire?
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