Soliciting Member Perspectives: Levinson vs Bryston vs Audio Research

I'm familiar with all three.  I owned ARC, including the Ref. 10 Preamp, and others in our local audio club have owned the other two.  Personally, I'm not impressed with any of the three brands relative to other better brands.

@oldmandave :

"but sadly find that my home geography suffers a severe lack of us"

Relatively speaking I think our home planet suffers (maybe not the right word) a severe lack of us.

I have a large home office I work from. I sit and listen to my system maybe 45 minutes a day, but it runs pretty much all day as I work at my desk or relax with home theatre. System is Vandersteen 5a’s with Vandersteen center, sub and surrounds, Bryston 6BSST (3 channel) for front, Bryston 4NRB for rears (the original Bryston I bought around 1990 to drive B&W 801 II), Bryston SP 1.7 (running in pass through since 1996), Bryston BDA 3 and BDP 2 playing back thousands of Hi Rez downloads and ripped SACD’s and CD’s. I enjoy this system musically - but you can see I buy always for the long term. The reason I went Bryston for digital was the incredible service I had received through the years from Bryston for repair, upgrades and warranties on pre and amps. I’ve never known a more responsive company, whether directly on the phone or through the AudioCircle groups. This has proven true with their digital products. For someone whose priority is a system that turns on everyday and runs without complaint all day, Bryston’s been the lasting solution for me. Best of luck as you find what works for you.

I have loved the Bryston amps I have heard many times at The Show with Magnaplanars. In fact, was a complete Bryston system and breathtaking. My only local high-end dealer has Acoustic Research and those were fantastic with Aerial speakers. I love the 7Ts; maybe one day. Here at home, I lucked out with a Levinson #336 driving my ADS L1230s. I've had several amps before; Mac 2105, Bedini 250/250, Krell KAV-300il (horrid), Sumo Andromeda, & Nine Class A. I used to bi-amp with a pair of Nines but the Levinson just blows away everything I've ever heard. Completely invisible, effortless, and dimensonal. Even my tube loving goldern-eared friend said it was the only solid state amp that did not offend his ears. So I have never been able to compare these amps in the same system and environment but you picked some very good amps to choose from I think. I'd also check out Conrad Johnson and PS Audio amplifiers and the Merrill Class-D Veritas monoblocks impressed me as well. It's all about the synergy of system and room and your personal taste. I'd definitely get a tube preamp with whatever amp you choose would be my advice.

I think the original owner of my system was aware of some synergy with Aerial Acoustics, Audio Research and ML. The components seemed to have been carefully selected and matched. My AR LS-16 runs into the Proceed via balanced XLR and drives the Aerial Acoustics 7Bs.

I can say a lot of things about the SQ of this system that may or may not be accurate or relevant based on my inexperience. But the one thing I can say with some certainty is that the system is invisible or maybe transparent. The speakers simply disappear and there is never a sense that sound is 'coming out of them'. It is just right there in the middle of the room.