2. amps-preamps
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Fremer lays an Ostrich egg...

From the start, let us say i am a little biased. i read with particular interest the review about the Levinson 53 Amplifiers in the current Stereophile, amps i currently own of course. i also have a Levinson 326S preamp, an EMM Lab CDP, and Von Schweikert VR9SE speakers, all linked up with transparent wire.
my previous amps btw were Levinson 33H mono's which i loved.
According to Mikey, the amps basically suck. no life. no harmonics. uninvolving. flat. they measure great for the most part, except for some anomilies outside of stuff the human ear can detect anyway. they are put together nicely too. But... they have a (dreaded) switch-mode power supply which i get the distinct impression MF decided ahead of time was going to screw up the sound. and so it did (i guess- who really knows what goes on in his head?) so every OTHER sentence in the review emphasizes transparency and dead quiet, neutral sound while the "meat" of the article states the amplifier doesn't have "heart and soul". the Absolute Sound did not reach the same conclusion, but did intimate the amps had an austere quality.
AND THIS is MY review- the ML#53's are not for everybody. they are DEAD NEUTRAL. they are DYNAMIC. DETAILED. my system COOKS when i put on a really good recording of a really good performance. if however the signal lacks in significant areas then I HAVE TO EXTRACT THE MUSIC out of the sound my speakers are making. if i love the performance this is easy for me to do. if i don't care that much about the CD, then it gets sold or just not played that much. other good attributes- the amps never get HOT, they are not impossible to move around (with a little help), they have protection circuitry that kicks in whenever the power goes out. AND FINALLY there is a pair of speakers they won't power up somewhere on the planet. i would like
to see them so i can warn people not to match them up. this could take awhile however.
it floored me when Fremer sold his SF Amati Homage speakers and got Watt Puppy 7's instead. He couldn't say enough good things about the Sonus Fabers, and yet he traded them for a much more analytical sounding speaker, probably for the super-detailed, super focused sound. His reviews of $$,$$$ phono stages are hilarious- what a set of ears he possesses!
when it comes to VPI turntables, he disliked the Aries but LOVED the less-accomplished Scoutmaster. I would guess the Classic-3 is pretty good as well, but i have 0.01% confidence
in M.Fremers' opinion of it. BUT i would welcome anyone ELSE'S professional opinion. At $6,000 it's not an inexpensive investment. add an SDS and a cartridge (and a record cleaning machine) and you're looking at $8500. If in fact VPI (and SO MANY OTHER TURNTABLES) have long engineered an OUTBOARD MOTOR UNIT to isolate noise and enhance the sound, wouldn't you want to know EXACTLY what the deal is with the Classic line? i sure would, and i am a HUGE fan of SOME of VPI's products and i own several.
OTOH, i am a mere peon, peasant, ignorant on the subject of SOTA Analog, and whatever other descripion you might want to label me with. But i think i can say my opinions are consistent and follow a logical pattern.
trying to detect that quality from M.F.'s writings is difficult and at times impossible. and yes, even laughable. i myself have owned (over a long period of time) Levinson, Krell, S. Faber, Pass, and Rowland amplifiers and listened to them in my own home. the ML#53's are very accomplished amps and represent some of the best solid state available, cleaner and faster than the ML-33H's that Stereophile liked so much. Yes they are probably better suited for classical and jazz, and hi-rez recordings are invaluable to bring out the best in them.
but they do not "sound flat and uninvolving". amps don't generally do that anyway- speakers do. Put on a Rachel Podger SACD on Pentatone of Mozart and/or Haydn (or Julia Fisher) and bathe in the warmth of
the sound flowing out of your speakers. Everyone (including ordinary people with ordinary hearing) who have heard my system thinks it sounds "really nice". That's good enough for me. I also think it sounds "really nice".
And i can be pretty picky.
french_fries
rok2id's avatar
rok2id
7,826 posts
 
Your review of your amps is just as incomprehensible as fermer's. What does DRY mean? Dynamic detailed? Neutral? And if you have to have the perfect cd with the perfect music and the perfect performance, for your system to COOK, then maybe fermer is on to something. :) And most things that audiophiles search for and talk about cannot be heard by humans. You should know all this.

How to interpet reviews:
If they don't say anything bad about the item, then it's all good. Now on cheap, errr I mean modestly priced items, after three pages of praise, there will always be the obligatory last paragraph comparison to the $750,000 'reference' system. Ignore that part. That's there so the high-end advertising dollars won't go away.
The words he used to 'criticize' your amps have absolutely no meaning to any rational human being. Wine tasters excepted.
Cheers (up)?
br3098
971 posts
 
Mr. Fries,

It it's good for you, then it's good. That's all that matters. After three posts, you still sound defensive, hurt and angry. Get over it. There is no such thing as a universal truth or universally great gear in audio.

Michael Fremer is entitled to his opinion, just as you are. The difference is that he is paid to put his in print. Just because it's published does not mean that it is true for you.
chadeffect
586 posts
 
Mr Fenchfries,
I think once you have experienced a lot of equipment (like some reviewers) and lived with it, your taste starts to get extreme and changes until it finally settles.

I remember the Halcro at the time on my Magnepans plus active subs. The combination was mind bending. So much speed, dynamics, sweet detail and an utter lack of grain.

I doubt anyone could have really criticised it especially at the time. I heard comments about the Halcro being cold etc. but to me it was silky smooth and glorious. Even warm!

The next time I had the halcro in my system was with the AG Trio. After living with SETs and Class D amps for years I'd become used to other aspects of amp performance. While there are many variables that one could start pointing at, my taste had shifted. Even though the Halcro was an amazing amp, when I compared it to a simple 45 SET amp (with great tubes), the 45 won hands down!

These speakers are very high sensitivity so power was irrelevant, but there was an overall involvement from the SET that the wonderful Halcro couldn't even get close to.

While the class D had much in common with the Halcro like the amazing noise floor and extension, both were rendered monochrome by the 45. The Halcro had timbre, unlike the more grey sounding class D, but neither, for all their other wonderful attributes, sounded alive. This maybe what MF is referring to with his review of the ML53. This is where words like "dry" come in I suspect.

So the "best" amplifier in the world was toppled by a 2nd world war amp design in my set up. But I still remember the uber sound of the halcro with various speakers over the years. It was truely amazing, I had just moved on.

So we are talking taste. But I would also say if something in the back of your mind is nagging you like his comment, something probably isn't right, because when its right you are not listening to any part of your hifi. You listen to music.

I had that sound where each recording was rendered so perfectly that you had to pick and choose by recording quality. Those systems don't last and the upgrade path inevitably drags on...

You need the balance between detail rendering and soul IMHO. Somewhere in there lays the magic!
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
Although I've not been a big fan of Mr. Fremers, he should get a pat on the back for telling like it is. Not many reviewers have the stones to say something negative about a large manufacturer, and Harman's got to be one of the biggest.

We should all keep in mind that these opinions are all personal preferences and don't matter in the least if we are happy with what we own.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,236 posts
 
Chadeffect,
Nice post!
I think you nailed what M. Fremer was trying to explain.
The Halcro is a good example.An amplifier that meets many hifi criteria but just seems to lack that essential sense of life,involvement and emotion.As you say, it has no(or little) soul.This perception will obviously vary among listeners.
Regards,
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