Oh, this feels familiar.

Do you have any current pictures of what you have hooked up now?

Well, it was this....

IMG_2693.jpg


With this hooked up to it....(the DAC, not the cat :))

IMG_2295.jpg


In a room set up like:

IMG_2655.jpg


But I don't have any wide pictures of the Levinson in there..its just sort of beached upon an amp stand to the side of things, close enough for 3' cables to the preamp.
 
Wow! Great looking room. Harbeth's :drool::drool::drool:. The cat must love you for putting a nice warm DAC on the console for him to lay on. :yes: I take it that you had the ML's just setting on the floor next to the console?
 
Wow! Great looking room. Harbeth's :drool::drool::drool:. The cat must love you for putting a nice warm DAC on the console for him to lay on. :yes: I take it that you had the ML's just setting on the floor next to the console?

The moment the DAC went up, Aiko the cat was drawn to it like a warm stove. She lays on it all the time, and seems to think its the best thing that ever happened in my place.

The big amp is just sitting off to the side, yes. It would look pretty odd sitting on top...and would maybe break my back. That first picture is making me want to run home and plug the Accuphase gear back in. I LOVE that setup. I don't think about the gear when its playing, just the music.

Other than the later model stereo gear, it could be a scene out of "Mad Men". :D

I do have "period correct" stereo gear that I could sub in. The Fisher X202/Fm-200/Empire setup looks really neat. I have KLH Sixes in storage..it would be a really cool setup! And not sound too shabby, either. The X202 and KLH-Sixes are a good match. As it is I think the Accuphase, Harbeths and VPI have enough of a retro vibe.
 
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John, curious if you have given the room to wattage ratio much thought.

It seems to me all the amps you really like are lower wattage amps.

I know that it makes a huge difference to me in my listening room. I find
that if I go over a 60 watt amp, it has what I call a, "too much sound for
the room" syndrome.

At least that's what I've noticed in my quest.
 
Hopefully this isn't against any rules, but out of curiosity do you know around what your dealer is asking for this Levinson?
 
Hopefully this isn't against any rules, but out of curiosity do you know around what your dealer is asking for this Levinson?

I honestly have no idea. It wasn't even unboxed from the previous owner when I grabbed it.

John, curious if you have given the room to wattage ratio much thought.

It seems to me all the amps you really like are lower wattage amps.

I know that it makes a huge difference to me in my listening room. I find
that if I go over a 60 watt amp, it has what I call a, "too much sound for
the room" syndrome.

At least that's what I've noticed in my quest.

Its only a 100wpc amp, which is about what the Harbeths have liked in the past. They've been on 30wpc, 120, and 150 and all the options were good. This amp just seems very forward and kind of "opaque" if that means anything. It just shouts at you.
 
I'm moving at the end of the month and have to do it all over again :sigh: A good opportunity to dislodge a bunch of junk.

You seem to change apartments about as often as most people change their underwear. :lmao:
 
That really is the best summation of it...it makes me feel like I'm sitting right up against the stage with the music yelling at me. There's not an ounce of subtlety with, even with the more laid-back tube preamp ahead of it. I haven't tried the Klyne because in the past, it really hasn't affected that type of sonic presentation much. If anything it was the opposite with the 432, now that I'm more used to this amp. The 432 was almost too laid back, and the Klyne brought it back from its slumber.

The measured performance of this amp is very good. On paper. Yet another example of why I could care less what the measurements say as long as they're in the range of competence.


Yeah, physically its a bigger amp than the 432, though not as heavy. Pictures do not do justice to how large this thing is, especially for its power output. I cannot for the life of me figure out why a 100wpc amp that is not Class-A needs to be this ridiculously large. But if it's sound backed it up I wouldn't mind. I wonder when the last time this amp was biased?

My room is medium sized but my listening setup is along the long wall, which puts me fairly close to the speakers. I could try to rearrange them to shoot down the length of it, but to be honest, I don't care enough for what I've heard to totally rearrange my room around it.

Naw John...I'm afraid that amp is for a larger listening space driving bigger speakers. Until then, nothing will be on top of it... that amp wont be happy until its driving something like big Wilson's in a big listing room.
 
Well, it was this....

IMG_2693.jpg


With this hooked up to it....(the DAC, not the cat :))

IMG_2295.jpg


In a room set up like:

IMG_2655.jpg


But I don't have any wide pictures of the Levinson in there..its just sort of beached upon an amp stand to the side of things, close enough for 3' cables to the preamp.

Dang John...nice! Let me know when the next listening party is? I'm down the road in St. Louis....I can get to Chi-town in 3and half hours.:D
 
I'm moving at the end of the month and have to do it all over again :sigh: A good opportunity to dislodge a bunch of junk.

Is that a bachelor-pad? And you moving to another bachelor-pad? No wonder you got gear all over the place.
 
Is that a bachelor-pad? And you moving to another bachelor-pad? No wonder you got gear all over the place.

Yeah, its a bachelor pad. I'm actually just moving within my building to get a better view and more up to date fixtures. And using it as an excuse to look less like a stereo shop, as I'm now "dating" more than I am sitting around arguing about stereo gear :).

I really like living here. I can walk to work in 5 minutes, without going outside if I don't want to, and my friend owns a stereo store in the basement. Sweet!
 
A positive note about the 331. It has probably the best bass performance of an amp that I've had here. Rock solid, its like it just goes down into the core of the Earth. Whooomp.

I'm going to play around with a few things more before going back to the Accuphase. I might as well while I have it here.
 
I have never seen any ML gear, and I dont doubt it is arguably as good or better as anything out there (along with many other brands/specific models).

But.....

When I see pics, think

"the complete opposite of best bang for your buck"

Its like you are spending big big bucks to get that extra 0.000013% of performance.
I think that it really comes down to what speakers you're running. While I don't think this amp sounds that great, the 432 sounded good, it was just overkill for what I had. If I had Apogee Scintillas or Kappa 9s, or big Magnepans, it would have been a great solution. Power isn't necessarily expensive but big amps with the sonic qualities of small amps can be.

This amp...not sure what's up with it. They're not incredibly expensive used, from what I can tell (?) and they hold their value well.

I know my 432 cost me nothing to own it for 2 years. I traded it for a bit more value than what I bought it for.
 
Well, it was this....

IMG_2693.jpg


With this hooked up to it....(the DAC, not the cat :))

IMG_2295.jpg


In a room set up like:

IMG_2655.jpg


But I don't have any wide pictures of the Levinson in there..its just sort of beached upon an amp stand to the side of things, close enough for 3' cables to the preamp.

This makes me wanna cry. So awesome.

My younger brother and his wife are moving to Chi town in a few months so he can go back to school. I imagine coming to visit them isn't out of the question in the near-ish future. Wanna have a listening party? I'll bring good scotch.

- Woody
 
Yes, please do stop by. I'm downtown and by then I'll have a better view, overlooking the river. I'm a bit of a contrarian here but that's just a bluff ....
 
What does it mean when you shut off your stereo to listen to music on your computer, and it feels like a relief?

Audio can be very perlexing. Sometimes we listen to music that we know has obvious deficiences but still sounds right.
 
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