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Help - Mark Levinson Owners

I am considering replacing the stock power cords on my Mark Levinson equipment and would like to get feedback on what other Levinson owners are using. To give you the full picture, my equipment consists of ML 32, ML30.6 and ML 31.5. I have a 20amp dedicated line using Beldon cable with Wattgate plug. I then have the three components running thru a Transparent PowerIsolator IV. I have two additonal 20amp dedicated lines with WattGate plugs for my Krell FPB 350MC monoblock power amps. They are also running thru seperate Transparent PIXL's. My cabling is all Transparent Reference XL and the speakers are Dynaudio Temptations. I want to maximize my system and get the most from it (ie dynamics, soundstage, presence).I like jazz, rock and new age. I am very happy with my equipment but am interested in seeing what powercords can offer. Thanks for your input.
piperdan

Showing 3 responses by rex

rex
245 posts
 
Larryi is right on. You don't need a top-of-the-line cord with the Levinson power supplies. I currently use a Shunyata Diamondback on my Levinson DAC, and a Taipan on my Levinson amp. The Taipan is overkill for the amp.

Other gear in my system have shown much greater gains with expensive power cords.
rex
245 posts
 
Hi Cello - I'm not sure exactly what you're disagreeing with :-)

I too have found that some power cords cause great degradation on my Levinson gear. I would strongly recommend AGAINST using cords from PS Audio, JPS, or Cardas with Levinson gear - they had overwhelmingly negative effects when I tried them.

I have also found definite benefits and improvements with some power cords, just as you did. My point was, with the current Shunyata line in particular, that I did not need to buy the top-of-the-line cords to get these benefits. There was no need to buy an Anaconda when a Taipan did the trick.

There was another brand that I tried that showed improvements, but didn't reach the improvement level of the Shunyata Taipan until I got up into the $1000 range.

OTOH, I have other gear (source and pre) that showed continued improvements with more refined power cords.

I hope this makes what I said originally a bit more clear.
rex
245 posts
 
Cello - perhaps you mean the Black Mamba? A "Mambo" is a dance :-)

A couple of points:

1. The Black Mamba is about five years old. Technology marches on. Using a five-year-old cord to generalize about all of Shunyata's current products is not quite fair.

2. The Black Mamba is/was a Noise Reduction power cord, designed predominantly for digital source components. I can't think of a worse cord to use on a Levinson amp. The Levinson amps are served properly with a Pacesetter cord, not a Noise Reduction cord.

So, I'm not surprised you didn't like the Black Mamba with your Levinson amp. It definitely wasn't the right match.
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