Levinson 23 or 331 - which one would you take?

Hi,

Go for the Levison 331, Looks and sounds much beter

The 331 is just one generation up and it came out in 1995-1998 and is only 100 WPC, while the 23 came out in 1987-1990 and is 200 WPC. The other thing is what type of speakers do you have? Are they power hungry? If it were me I would take the 23, only because it has more power behind it.

I would, and did, take the No. 23. It sounds great to my ears. It may not be the latest in technology, but then again, it was Stereophile Class "A" when it came out, so it obviously is a very good performer. As far as looks go, how can you go wrong with Levinson. I actually like the very conservative look of it. It blends into the back ground, which the wife likes. Having double the power is a real plus. I used to have the No. 27, which also had 100W/ch, and it too sounded good, but I'll tell you, it is really nice to have all that power driving my speakers. If your speakers are very efficient, maybe you don't need it.
Since the price of the 23 is still less than the 331 (I believe), you might want to go with a 23.5, which is what I wish I had done, had I had the money. It costs about $500 more, which puts it in the same price range as the 331.

My two cents worth! Good Luck. I doubt you would go wrong either way though!

levinson 23 sound much better than 331 to me.If both are the same price, I will go for 23.

My speakers are Swans "Allure" which are rated at 92dB @ 1 watt so efficiency is not a problem. Thanks for all of yopur input so far!

Craig

consider the 23.5 instead of the 23 its supposed to be much better

I have a Parasound A21. It's the 1st expensive amp I've owned and I really like it. I have an opportunity to buy the Levinson 20.5 mono's for a good price. Anyone out there with experience with Levinson of this era. Sure, they're certainly from a different price class but they're old and I'm worried about having to replace thing's like the cap's which, I'm told, wear out after about 10 years. The electolyte wears out or something. I heard this when researching Krell amps on the Gon which, if you look, often advertise being serviced if they are older.

I wish I had taken the 23. If you read the previous post you can see why.