Mark Levinson 432 vs 532 vs 532H

I don't own a Lenvinson product at the moment but have always admired their older amps. When I saw the specs and pictures of the internals of the 532H the first two things that came to my mind were "Where's The Beef" and "Why is this thing $8k again", especially considering that it isn't a Class D design.

Does Harman have new technology that allows them to use such small components in their product when compared to the majority of the other Class A/B designed Amps?

I say look for an older model with some meat on it's bones otherwise you may need to keep that 532 warranty card close in hand. This of course is just one more opinion in a sea of many opinions.

I considered buying the 532h, but after seeing it with it's cover off I simply couldn't bring myself to close the deal, and ended up with a pair of Parasound JC1's (amazing amplifiers by the way).

I love the 532 but Levinson's prices have really gone off the deep end lately and it's well out of the realm of what I'm willing to pay.

I am still a fan of ML products, but the "gotta have it factor" has waned since it's peak in the late 90's (my opinion).

I can confirm that the 532 is analog, not switching like model 53, having seem them all disassembled. I spoke with some of the engineers behind the H series design and implementation, and while actually the PSU is smaller than prior ML products, its size, components and capabilities are founded in solid engineering and exhaustive listening tests. A lot of people even prefer the 532H sound than the 532. Oddly, even owning a 532 and a 533H I had not listened to them yet (moving out of country, so I will wait to get there) I listened model 53's with Salon 2 and with JBL Everest's at a Harman facility, and I can honestly said that they blew me away! I used to own a pair of B&W 802D, and I had to sell them just because of that particular experience. Never heard my speakers the same way after that afternoon with the Salon 2's and 53's. I found out that they used 2 532's as development amps while developing the Salon 2 (one for each speaker bi wired), which was what made me decide for it.

Sorry for all the ramblings!

GS

Just today brought home my No 532 to replace my 532H.

The 532H is a great amplifier. I would have been happy to have it in my system for the long-term. However, an opportunity to purchase a 532 came up and I made the leap.

The 532 is brand new out of box, not broken in. The differences that I can hear so are:
1. better separation of every sound - highs are a bit clearer, background singers more distinct, highs have more "air" around them.

2. Lows are more well defined. Not that the 532H was a slouch at this, but bass is more defined and forceful.

3. Big picture: Some HD downloads from HD Tracks that were disappointing before sound better already, in the first hour of amplifier use - before any real break-in.

To be clear, I HIGHLY recommend the 532H as it was noticeably better than my Chord CPM 2600 integrated (no slacker on its own). I emphasize that I LOVED my Chord CPM 2600. It was easily livable and the 532H was better yet. Now, the 532 bests that.

I just think that 1 hour in, the No 532 is a noticeable step up from the 532H. Each individual should decide if the upgrade cost is worth the sonic improvement.

The No. 532H is a great amp. Don't worry about the chassis seeming sparse. The Chassis is designed to hold up to 5 channels of their newer compact design using numerous smaller capacitors instead of a couple large one's in the center. They're using two of their amplifiers for the 523H and two torrodial transformers for dual mono operation mounted vertically in the front, so it looks a bit sparse, but don't worry it's all about the sound. If anything it'll give more cooling space. The amp sounds like a good pair of monoblocks built into one chassis. It is fully differential balanced, so that can explain a bit of the price increase. It is a top notch stereo amplifier with an iron grip on the bass and exceptional soundstaging.