Consider yourself lucky that you didn’t get it. You can get a much better preamp than an over 35 year old one !For $1795? That being the current high bid on the aforesaid reviewer/seller's second iteration of the auction. Well, perhaps you can, but I don't doubt that the ML-7 would be competitive at the very least.
Early Mark Levinson gear is classic, and I can say as a former long-time user of an even older ML-1 that those pieces fetch prices in the thousands of dollars for more reasons than their pretty appearance. And having used the ML-1's phono stage until just a couple of years ago when I replaced it with a Herron VTPH-2, I have no doubts about the following statement in the seller's listing:
I have used this preamplifier for years reviewing for Stereophile, and have not found any pre-amplifiers that had a better phono stage -- until now. The Mark Levinson No.526's phono stage is quieter and more transparent, but at a much higher price.Blundell, best of luck in addressing the issue.
Regards,
-- Al