Does the Mark Levinson 331 suck?

Hi,it's again Kevin. My system is a Vpi Scout turntable with an Ortofon Jubilee cartridge, a Rotel 1070 CD player, an Adcom 750 pre-amp,Revel F30 speakers and signal cable cables (good inexpensive stuff). I hate to be so hard on Levinson it's just that when you this much spend you expect to be taken to the moon and it's not happening. I should add that I have the suckiest sounding room you could possibly imagine and it's killing my bass and mid-bass.

Kevin,Auaaron is right on the money,the 331 likes
tube preamp like the audio research LS22,it is
a good amp, they like dark sounding speaker,and
silver wire audioquest,But it is a good amp.Be
patient,you are experiencing component mismatch.I
audition that amp its a good one.

Hi Kevin. I've owned a 331 and other Levinson amps after that and none of them sucked. The 331 is not the very best available, but it beats most of what's out there. I see several problems with your system: the biggest is probably your room--remember, a bad room will quickly ruin even the best of systems. Secondly, your "generic" "signal cable cables" more than likely suck! Cheap cables are like cheap tires on a Porsche--you just don't get the same performance as with good ones. Bite the bullet and get good cables! Transparent Audio cables sound very nice with Levinson. Try some! Your CD player is OK, but out of it's league with a Levinson anything. The Adcom is out of it's league too and can sound bright and irritating with the wrong combination of components. In sum, your VPI and Levinson are the strongest links--the room and other stuff the weakest. I'd try a different room first, then upgrade the rest! I'm not trying to be harsh, but in a system, you must strive for a good BALANCE. You've got some very good components mixed in with some average ones. Then there's that bad room.... consult with an acoustician who deals with home audio/video systems all the time. Not all do. He or she may have some solutions that may help improve your room if not cure it of it's problems. Unfortunately, a "magical" sounding amp will not cure what ails your system or room. Good luck.

Walkingman you are right on I agree with you 100%

kevin, i use a proceed hpa2, of the same lineage as the levinson 331. stupid question, but are you sure the levison is completely run in? my experience of the proceed is that is has taken many hours (100? 200?) to completely break in and produce a musically satisfying sound. also, i use a tubed preamp. the proceed is amazing in its slam factor; it is not "harmonically rich" (i.e., as stated above, pleasantly distorted). good luck and happy listening ....