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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
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?
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
Power cords are a personal thing , you can find tune your system with them . Some call them tone controls , so it would be best to choose your own . Harman claims there not class D , Richard at Harman will send you a white paper on them explaining the technology if you ask . Harman is back to giving good customer service . Iv'e heard them too , ( best iv'e heard ) . Wish I could afford them . Have a great day .
hotmailjbc
571 posts
 
i agree and have thrown away all my stock cords and use ps audio ac cords on everything with dedicated line and furman conditioner with great results. there are so many choices in audio and that is the fun of it. just look at all the tonearm phono cartridge combinations..... i would find it interesting to hear what the levinson designer thinks. i.ll contact him,,thanks
french_fries OP
815 posts
 
i want to clarify that the dealer did not bring over the STOCK CORDS that came with the amplifiers, since they thought my ML-33H's had detachable cords (they don't) and were going to use those. so at the last minute they used some utility cords (all they had in the van at the time). the next day i dug through the stack of boxes in my closet to locate something a "little nicer"- Dimarzio M Path power cords- they cost about $225 retail-they're made very well and work great. in the future i might be tempted into getting the PIMM's and power cords from Transparent Audio. However the ML-53's don't regenerate A/C like the 33H's- according to Richard at Harman CS the newer hybrid design of the amplifiers no longer benefit from that technology. If so, then one might conclude that current is more of a factor (maybe the only factor) rather than noise on the line in maximizing the performance of the amps.
andromedaaudio
170 posts
 
Thanks for sharing your auditioning experiences , the dutch importer has a couple as well , but they have not lended them to a shop for a show as far as i know , hearing them on wilson or avalon would be fun, i believe indeed that they will not differ a lot from other manufactures .
If they would , something would obviously be wrong.
But hey , the krells have the "steriod" powersupply, which should not stand in the way dynamically , besides whether i could afford the 53 s or not , if i hadn't gambled so much in options/futures trading i might have bought them (laugh)
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