All I can say is you must have heard tired ones, I heard a fully restored pair through 2 pairs of stacked ESL:57's with Kelly Decca ribbons from 12khz up and they were magnificent, and they wiped the floor with the massive ML3 that was on hand. And that's why the ML site calls them the "Legend" Cheers George |
I also ran a pair of stacked Quads for over a decade with a pair of ML2s so I am qualified to comment. Yes the ML2s can and do sound wonderful with the Quads but do sound dark and grainy when compared to some of the better modern amps. That said, I no longer own any ML amp (I prefer Goldmund amps), though I still own and enjoy a ML-7A preamp, which remains one of the best preamps ever |
All ML are great, except for one. They really tried to cure the evils of that topology class, but only made things worse, it was never going to happen the doomed Class-D No53 monoblocks https://www.stereophile.com/content/mark-levinson-no53-reference-monoblock-power-amplifier Cheers George |
ML-2 is a legendary amplifier without peers - really. Not only can it compete with modern designs (2020), it’ll subjectively and objectively outperform 99% of them. Sonics far superior to anything of the time (70s) from Threshold, Krell, Phase Linear, Harman, Marantz or anything else. Phenomenal build quality & design. ML later opted for far more complex, multiple gain-stage, massive feedback circuits and so was the magic of ML-2 gone forever. I had a dealer-friend and had the chance to frequently listen to the newer ML amps (and other brands for that matter) and compare them to ML-2’s. Nothing came even close to the sound of the Ml-2’s. I found (and still do) the sound of the newer ML creations unable to match the sweetness, effortlessness, natural timbre and depth of the ML-2’s, 33 and 33H included. ML-53’s sounded way too flat and bright for my taste, almost pierecing :-( Remember: For best sound quality RUN SINGLE ENDED, NOT BALANCED!This is very important. Problems? Low power: For low sensitivity speakers playing in large, deadening rooms, 25W in 8 ohms is not gonna cut it.I know guys who’ve modified it for higher power (60W in 8 ohms), but you’ll need electronics knowledge and tools to do it, so not recommended for John Doe. Logistics: Big and heavy. You must put them in your own separate listening room. Or as my wife put it: either they go or you go ;-) Electricity consumption:Actually not that bad, compared to say Aleph 2’s or some older Krell (prior to Plateau Bias) which were electrical ovens. I’ve heard a cpl of Chinese clones... they’re not even close, so don’t throw away your money. In one word: If you find one = get it !! |
