Levinson 5805

Hello no_money,

     It's been my experience that ML gear in general is very good at portraying a very good three dimensional sound stage that is solid and stable while also being very realistic/palpable and natural.  I believe having plenty of high quality amp power is also critical for a system to accurately reproduce the impact and dynamics of live music, especially in the bass regions, and therefore to faithfully portray a realistic/palpable, 3D and natural sound stage in our rooms.
    It seems like the ML 585.5 is more than capable of doing this in your system and room.  Congrats and enjoy!

Tim

nomoney,

     As you're well aware, the 5805 is excellent.  After comparing some speakers through one at a local dealer, I liked it so much I bought a pre-owned Levinson 326S preamp for $5K just to try and capture some of the magic in combination with my high powered class D power amps. 
     This was a complete success and I attained the benefits of the Levinson detail, sweetness and excellent sound staging I heard from the 5805.  I think the extreme neutrality of my class D mono amps enabled this by just passing through these Levinson qualities unencumbered.
     I'd suggest you really have no choice but to get the 5805 repaired since it's a great integrated and it's basically worthless unrepaired.  Good luck on the repair estimate.

Tim

     Ah, I missed that being mentioned. Good, then that should be a very low repair bill, indeed.

Tim

Hello no_money,

Ouch, you’ve had some bad luck recently.

Yes, I had a fairly hefty budget and, with a willingness to buy used, it effectively gave me the pick of the litter in terms of a high quality preamp, my only prerequisite being a means of HT bypass. I just happened to hear the 5805 integrated at a local shop listening in on another customer’s audition/comparison of Magico 3 and Sonus Faber Strativarius speakers. The 5805 was used to power both and the results were beautiful on both pairs of speakers.
I was really impressed that the 5805 was capable of sounding so sweet, beautiful and created such a solid, stable, wide, deep, natural and 3D soundstage on both pairs of speakers while still being neutral enough for me and the customer to clearly notice small differences between both high quality speakers.
We both agreed the speakers were very similar on everything except the bass, with the Sonus Faber having the edge on bass quantity and impact but the Magico having the edge on bass quality. The customer decided to buy the Magicos because his system already consisted of the 5805 and a pair of high quality subs.
I didn’t want or intend to horn in on the customer’s speaker demo but the exceptionally high quality of the music just drew me in. After experiencing the excellent performance level of the 5805, I was keenly interested in trying to attain those apparent Mark Levinson qualities in my system. Luckily, this dealer just happened to have a 326S preamp recently taken in as a trade-in and I bought it for my budgeted $5K.
Sorry, I seem to have turned your thread into an ad for Mark Levinson products and a description of my good luck as opposed to your recent bad luck. But you’re likely to have your 5805 integrated, or a new replacement, back in your system soon and I’m thrilled with my 326S preamp so I think that makes us both rather friggin lucky, right?

Best wishes and enjoy,
           Tim

Hello no_money,

    Very kind of you, thanks! I live in Indiana but if I'm ever going to be in your neck of the woods, I just might take you up on that offer and pm you.
    Awesome news on the replacement amp. I was wondering if it could have been a large power surge, but that would've probably blown the fuse.
Thanks again and enjoy,
          Tim