Mark Levinson & Others

I have to disagree. The newer stuff is pricey but it's excellent I have a 526 preamp I am listening to through a levinson ML23.5 and older Matrix speakers.   The phono stage is magnificent and I am really enjoying it.  I have both tube and solid state. Right now listening to a Linn LP12 Troika and it's goosepimple territory with the ML23.5. Also a Cardas fanboy but tried Transparent with this setup.  Excellent synergy.   I have not yet tried the 526 dac or linestage going -  to soon. I am mainly vinyl.  The 23.5 is wonderful, trying to save for the 536 amps.  I heard them and they are special.  I don't know anything about the pieces you mentioned but the new design team Levinson put together, in my opinion did a great job.  At some point older Levinson products need maintenance, that can be pricey.  I hesitated in going after the amp I found and even posted about the cost.  After hearing the 23.5, I committed.  Will easily rebuild if needed but mine had little use .  Won't look back. 

I was considering Mark Levinson myself as my dealer was just raving about them. I auditioned the 5000 series equipment. I didn’t audition the 500 series. I use to service consumer electronics. IMHO the new Mark Levinson equipment is completely overpriced! Also doing a lot of digging, a lot of software issues with the 5805. I don’t know the total extent of that issue. From a service standpoint I feel the 534/536 is poorly designed in the fact that the filter caps live on the amp board mounted over the output transistors sandwiched right against the power transformer. I see faulty power supply caps prematurely! They are really priced out of range considering the competition of many brands depending on your tastes. Look up the review on these amps and look at the pictures that they display. These are not your vintage Mark Levinson. To me it’s not par with build quality vs price tag. Anyone else’s take or opinions? Regards, Greg 

As mentioned in prior post, they (536) sounded great to my ears.  The 526 now heard the linestage and DAC.  Think this preamp is special.  The 536 really sounded great, hope I have the means to purchase at some point in future.  I cant comment on design.  Sound wise I wouldn't hesitate. 

i had 2 5805 units that failed completely right at 6 months. They gave me a great deal to move up to a 585.5

I would steer clear until someone owns up to what caused these failures. I was one of MANY in my area alone. 

the 585.5 is great and has been solid for over a year now.. 

No_Money

Did you like the 5805 when it worked? Is the 585.5 really a big step up for you? I was thinking 5802 but cannot find any info on its reliability and hearing your story might make me skip the headache and jump up from the start. Or I'm going another way completely.