Dartzeel or Mark Levinson 33H

I would say that your Chords are better than all the rest, what you need is to buy a Chord CPA-5000 and connect your 8000 to the av input and you hear the difference.

I was using YBA Passion Integre and AMP 400 with WB ARC and Torus and was very satisfied. YBA is J-FET amp and sweet sounding.

I would choose a warmer sounding amp to WB speakers. ML33H is such an amp. Also, I heard it with gryphon amps. Match made in heaven.

For 88 dB sensitivity speakers nominally rated at 4 ohms but dipping to 2.5 ohms, I would be careful about amplifier matching. The dart frequently is used with speakers rated several dB higher sensitivity and with higher, more benign impedances, some with powered woofers, and with such loads can perform well. Bass control, dynamics and weight are some things to listen for. In this price range there should be no compromises.

Bwhite if you're not familiar with ML, but 33H is a Class A amp with 3,4kVA transformer per channel.

I have a pair of Chimera's in my system right now. The Chimera's are rated at 4Ohm but drop down to 2.5Ohm. In my experience using different amplifiers of different power ratings I'd say the most difficult region to drive falls somewhere in the upper midrange.

The first amplifiers I used to drive the Chimera's were Shindo Corton Charlemagne 80 monoblock amps which are rated at 75 watts. These "almost" worked but I could hear significant distortion in upper midrange at high volumes - female vocals. The Bass seemed okay...and unstrained. The only problems seemed to occur at high(er) volumes. At the time I had a spare McIntosh Mc122 80 watt amp sitting unused so I bi-amped - Shindo on top and McIntosh on the bottom which provided about 155 watts to the Chimeras. I still got distortion in the upper mids. Bass seemed fine though. I switched the McIntosh on top and Shindo on bottom. Now the McIntosh was starting to distort and the orange McIntosh clip indicators came on. The Shindo powered the bass just fine - better than the McIntosh.

In both cases you could hear the amps straining in the upper mids at higher volume levels. So.. in this class of amplifier, the 80 to 160 watt range is not adequate for the Chimera… I’d lean toward at least 200 watts…Levinson 33H and Dartzeel are both under that but maybe they have higher current output or more dampening or something…. It would be interesting to try.

After the Shindo’s failed I purchased an interim solution, a Conrad Johnson Premier 350A which delivers 350 watts into 8 Ohms and I think it doubles into 4 Ohms. Anyhow.. the CJ drives the Chimera without any problem and since it's a high gain design, almost seems to have too much power.

One thing to note, with the CJ vs. Shindo is that the bass impact didn't really change all that much - I was very surprised. There was a very slight (if any) increase in overall bass speed and perhaps tightness with the CJ but nothing to write home about.

With the CJ there is never any sign of strain.

Given your choice of amps (Levinson 33H or DART), I suspect you’re searching for a bit more refinement or perhaps “personality”?? Because there are most likely no amps out there that will “synergize” better with your Chord DSP 8000 than Chord amps… which you already have. And (I am guessing) that since you use a AV processor as your “preamp” you’re system doubles for Home Theater duty too… So… slam is also very important to you? I would venture to guess that a single DART would not give you the slam you want in a HT application. Maybe a a pair would? That said, I’m not sure but I have a feeling the Levinson 33H would have more oomph.

compare both to symphonic line, if your intention is to make a last stop.

I am using the Chord monoblocks. Thanks for the input everyone.

With price difference in mind, 12k for good used ML and 25k for 108, I'll definately use ML. Wilson Benesch love lot of energy behind them especialy Isobaric units used in Chimera.
33H is very quiet no need for external power regenaration.
Sonus Fabers are on the dark side and they like higher reslution amplifiers.

what are you currently using?

i would recommend Dart.. 33H sound is not as refine as Dart. but if power is your priority check out the new Levinson mono block

The Levinson 33H is probably getting on now. I would try the Dartzeel, but be aware of its slight lack of power.

The Dartzeel on the times I have heard it, have had very nice timbre detail compared to the darker ML sound.

Thanks for the input Mike. You're "The Man".

I brought the dartzeel amp to my customer to do a direct comparison with his 33H. His system at the time was the Levinson 33H, 32, EMM CDSA, Sonus Stradivari. The Dartzeel was superior in every way (far more natural, better focus, depth layering, sense of 3D space, more natual bass, far more transparent, etc.).
My customer moved to the dartzeel amp and pre-amp very soon after.
Dealer Disclosure,
Dartzeel dealer

your Chimera's are 88db, 4 ohms.....they are on the more difficult to drive side of the equation. the Levinson 33H will be slightly more capable of filling a large space with these speakers compared to the darTZeel. OTOH the dart is quite a bit lower noise than the 33H, is more transparent and it's high frequencies are more delicate and extended. i prefer the bass articulation of the dart to the 33H's.

i think the clarity of the Chimera's make them natural partners with the very refined darTZeel....and the benefits of that synergy would outweigh whatever marco-dynamic compromises might exist.....at least for my particular priorities. the 33h is no slouch in terms of musicality but it's not in the class of the darTZeel. i owned 33H's for 2 years and have owned dart's for 3 years.

it depends on the size of your room. in a small room the dart is the obvious choice. as the room gets bigger there are trade-offs.