Thiel CS7.2 and Levinson amp and preamp

I owned the ML33s up to a year ago. I fell in love with them the first time that I heard them, 4 years ago. I was using a pair of CS 6es with my ML33s and the ML32 which I purchased last year. I have to admit, as much as I liked the 33s, I never enjoyed the Thiel/Levinson combination. It was always dark, lifeless and very hifi. I can also tell you from experience that the 380s is a total piece of junk. Actually Levinson has never made a decent preamp, even the ML32 Reference leaves quite a lot to be desired. If you're looking for trully musical combination with your 7.2s, look at Lamm M2.1 amps with matching L1 preamp. The M2.1 is the high current version of their famous M1.1. The M2.1 is stable to below one ohm and has enough power to drive the 7.2s properly. This combination will give you the ultimate musicality, and you can forget about upgrades or tweaks for a very long time, if ever. The Levinson might initially satisfy you, but will definitely bore you within a few months of purchase. The upgrrade bug will strike again. You're welcome to cantact me, if you have any other questions regarding the Levinson/Thiel sound; damokanyc@aol.com rgds, david k.

Interesting that you find that MIT cables synergize with A PASSIVE PREAMP. I too am a TOTAL fan of MIT cables (just got the 350 EVO's), but I'M NOT A FAN OF PASSIVE PREAMPS. MY CD player runs my Krell amp directly, AND IT'S PLENTY TRANPARENT AND HI-REZ...you'd be surprised. My room is VERY dialed in also...Anyhoo, great to see other fans of MIT...they've had a few duds, but MORE THAN MAKE UP FOR IT OVERALL!!

Don't know if you've bought yet, but I have to go with those who say that the Thiel/Levinson combo is a great one. I have an ML 27 driving Thiel 2.2s, and hope to upgrade the rest of my system to ML. I've listened to 7.2s driven with a 336/380S combination, and it was goosebump time for me on classical music.

When I owned my 7.2s (have 3.7s now), I used a Proceed (scaled down Levinson) HPA amp and Proceed preamp.  When my friend worked at the stereo store for a 6 year period, I help deliver many pair of Levinson/Thiel combos.  Excellent match.  That included a guy who had 33Hs and a Levinson preamp with his 7.2s.  That is what actually spurred me on to upgrade my amplification (and the Proceed was of course not nearly as expensive) hearing how good that sounded.  The 33Hs came delivered each in their own crate (and I believe each crate was something like 200+ lbs from memory) and a great amp that could drive just about anything I've seen.  The only caveat I'd offer is I know that some of the older models may not be supported by the factory as much as the current ones.  I'm sure if you did a search there would be plenty of threads like -  https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/took-my-levinson-amp-in-for-repair    and yes the Thiel 7.2 and Levinson combo for classical music is wonderful.