Mark Levinson v. McIntosh

[DScarinci1]

I need a new 5.1 amp for my home theater. I'm going to get the best I can get. Does anyone have any thoughts as between the Mark Levinson amp and the McIntosh Amp?

[Mike]

I owned the Mc 207 (same specs as 205) and found it ran out of gas long before it's rated 200 watts. That being said, anything Mc has excellent resale.

The Levinson 535 I've only heard at a demo seemed more powerful.

I would look at Bryston too.

I ended up buying the Classe CA-5300. It has the most power and sounds terrific for home theater. BUT, it is long. Check the depth measurements to see if it would work for you.

[Sean]

+1 for checking out Bryston for home theater. So much power and transparency for great prices. Best analog warranty in the business, too.

As an added bonus, Jeff (AV Solutions) is a Bryston dealer and can hook you up.

[MacFly]

My vote is for Mark Levinson, powerful doesn't run hot sounds awesome any of the 531-535 are great amps, I biwire a 532H for the center channel
Have not heard a Bryston , but as said before Jeff at AV Solutions can fill you in

Kevin

[Dave]

I like the McIntosh sound more. I've never really liked Levinson. I used to own the No. 23 amp years and years ago, and I couldn't stand it. It left a bad taste in my mouth. That's probably why.

As far as Bryston goes, I own Bryston. It's a solid performer that's neck and neck with McIntosh. It's better than Levinson to me as well.

[Lefisc]

Dave:
If I gave you all the details this would be a very long post. Please reconsider getting any Mark Levenson product. ML made it’s reputation when it was owned and operated by Madrigal. Since it was taken over by Harmon Kardon I have had nothing but trouble.
Three amps were returned within a week of getting them when they failed. It tooks weeks and even months for them to be replaced.

It took 6 months to get my Proceed amp back.

They COULD NOT fix my ML 40 after several attempts. My total down time was nearly a year. When they “replaced the unit” with the current 502, the first three arrived DOA, the fourth took a few months to fail. There were months of time in between waiting. Of course their 5112 CD player failed three times.

They don’t have a dedicated repair facility for ML. As a result there aren’t people trained in fixing it. Their repair person said that they have a huge stacks of these units because they had to give out NEW units to replace the ones they did not have the parts or knowledge to fix.

Note that they have almost none of the dealers that they had a decade ago. Check out the dealers ask them. It seems that the only people who promote them have a financial interest of some sort with the company. Sadly that includes some reviewers. Slowly I switched over to Krell

Please don’t go through the two years of HELL I did.

Check out the Bryston, I like them and I must confess I am not familiar with recent Mac products.

[NorthStar]

Ha, here's Barry; I was concerned, accident or some' else.

[Mike]

I would go for the Bryston (call Jeff). James is on the site and he's a terrific guy with a terrific company and a great product and warranty! Seems like the complete package to me.

[Dave]

I would go for the Bryston (call Jeff). James is on the site and he's a terrific guy with a terrific company and a great product and warranty! Seems like the complete package to me.

It wouldn't be a bad choice at all. You could do worse!

[Dave]

Dave:
If I gave you all the details this would be a very long post. Please reconsider getting any Mark Levenson product. ML made it’s reputation when it was owned and operated by Madrigal. Since it was taken over by Harmon Kardon I have had nothing but trouble.
Three amps were returned within a week of getting them when they failed. It tooks weeks and even months for them to be replaced.

It took 6 months to get my Proceed amp back.

They COULD NOT fix my ML 40 after several attempts. My total down time was nearly a year. When they “replaced the unit” with the current 502, the first three arrived DOA, the fourth took a few months to fail. There were months of time in between waiting. Of course their 5112 CD player failed three times.

They don’t have a dedicated repair facility for ML. As a result there aren’t people trained in fixing it. Their repair person said that they have a huge stacks of these units because they had to give out NEW units to replace the ones they did not have the parts or knowledge to fix.

Note that they have almost none of the dealers that they had a decade ago. Check out the dealers ask them. It seems that the only people who promote them have a financial interest of some sort with the company. Sadly that includes some reviewers. Slowly I switched over to Krell

Please don’t go through the two years of HELL I did.

Check out the Bryston, I like them and I must confess I am not familiar with recent Mac products.

[tunes]

That's some pretty bad luck with Levinson.
I would likely go with Bryston if I were doing a HT system. My Levinson 432 was outstanding while I owned it. Built like a tank with oodles of power, never the slightest bit hot and great SS features. Just that tubes were more my thing so it had to go. My 32 pre with phono same thing. excellent results.
Bryston has stellar support and excellent build.

[JBLfan]

Dave:
If I gave you all the details this would be a very long post. Please reconsider getting any Mark Levenson product. ML made it’s reputation when it was owned and operated by Madrigal. Since it was taken over by Harmon Kardon I have had nothing but trouble.
Three amps were returned within a week of getting them when they failed. It tooks weeks and even months for them to be replaced.

It took 6 months to get my Proceed amp back.

They COULD NOT fix my ML 40 after several attempts. My total down time was nearly a year. When they “replaced the unit” with the current 502, the first three arrived DOA, the fourth took a few months to fail. There were months of time in between waiting. Of course their 5112 CD player failed three times.

They don’t have a dedicated repair facility for ML. As a result there aren’t people trained in fixing it. Their repair person said that they have a huge stacks of these units because they had to give out NEW units to replace the ones they did not have the parts or knowledge to fix.

Note that they have almost none of the dealers that they had a decade ago. Check out the dealers ask them. It seems that the only people who promote them have a financial interest of some sort with the company. Sadly that includes some reviewers. Slowly I switched over to Krell

Please don’t go through the two years of HELL I did.

Check out the Bryston, I like them and I must confess I am not familiar with recent Mac products.

This parallel's my experience with Levinson as well...if you require service it can be an incredibly long, frustrating and very expensive experience. For what it's worth my brother had McIntosh in his HT system and recently got rid of the Mac and went with the Classe 5 channel amp - we both agreed it was a major upgrade.

[Dave]

I take it the McIntosh HT amps aren't so hot, true?

[Mike]

I take it the McIntosh HT amps aren't so hot, true?

Hot as in "run hot" or hot as in "no so good"? I just found mine ran out of steam LONG before it's rated 200 watts. I don't have that issue with my Classe and I suspect Bryston is similar or better.

As for temperature, my Mc amp never got hot.

[Sean]

Hot as in "run hot" or hot as in "no so good"? I just found mine ran out of steam LONG before it's rated 200 watts. I don't have that issue with my Classe and I suspect Bryston is similar or better.

As for temperature, my Mc amp never got hot.

I would second that and say that I have never witnessed or read about a Mc amp running hot (unless there is something wrong). The Bryston 4B I had ran just warm (not hot at all), even when pushed harder. I could always place my palm on the amp, no problem.

[Lefisc]

Just to explain my point: I had several Mark Levenson products with really no problems from 1985 until 2002. That included the ML 32, 30.5, 31.5 and several amps. I still have my proceed three channel amp.

Only AFTER they were bought by Harmon Kardon did my problems begin.

[Dave]

Hot as in "run hot" or hot as in "no so good"? I just found mine ran out of steam LONG before it's rated 200 watts. I don't have that issue with my Classe and I suspect Bryston is similar or better.

As for temperature, my Mc amp never got hot.

Hot as in not so good.