Finally Heard the Mark Levinson 53 Amps

I heard them at CEDIA. They are impressive class D hybrid amps.

TO CONTINUE-(earlier i couldn't seem to enter any more words past "bit" )--
if you like the Levinson Reference Sound- to me it's very neutral neither tubey or dry- then the 53's simply continue along the same line. these amps had very few hours on them when i started to try them out. also my cables need to be re-calibrated (Transparent) to optimize their performance- preamp to amps, amps to speakers. and then there is the question of investing in some even better power cords and/or conditioners since the stock cords seemed to limit the performance as well. and unquestionably it is time to get into high-definition audio from the internet since my new components are at level that 70% or more of my CD collection doesn't seem to offer any additional musical information.
AS FOR THE PRICE- well sometimes, at least for me, and especially in this instance, the local dealer offers delivery, set up, updating my wires, warrantee service, etc. that justify the expenditure. i have been dealing with this store for over 20 years as well. and it was a super pleasure to walk into the living room, switch the 53's on, and spend a full week evaluating them. FINALLY, i'll take a wild guess at this point that the latest offerings from Vitus, Soulution, Krell, etc. are going to do many of the same things the ML-53's are doing.

just curious...why would a company like levinson not put a great ac cord on their amp? people buying levinson arn,t cutting corners so is levinson's engineers not using the best wire?

Power cords are a personal thing , you can find tune your system with them . Some call them tone controls , so it would be best to choose your own . Harman claims there not class D , Richard at Harman will send you a white paper on them explaining the technology if you ask . Harman is back to giving good customer service . Iv'e heard them too , ( best iv'e heard ) . Wish I could afford them . Have a great day .

i agree and have thrown away all my stock cords and use ps audio ac cords on everything with dedicated line and furman conditioner with great results. there are so many choices in audio and that is the fun of it. just look at all the tonearm phono cartridge combinations..... i would find it interesting to hear what the levinson designer thinks. i.ll contact him,,thanks

i want to clarify that the dealer did not bring over the STOCK CORDS that came with the amplifiers, since they thought my ML-33H's had detachable cords (they don't) and were going to use those. so at the last minute they used some utility cords (all they had in the van at the time). the next day i dug through the stack of boxes in my closet to locate something a "little nicer"- Dimarzio M Path power cords- they cost about $225 retail-they're made very well and work great. in the future i might be tempted into getting the PIMM's and power cords from Transparent Audio. However the ML-53's don't regenerate A/C like the 33H's- according to Richard at Harman CS the newer hybrid design of the amplifiers no longer benefit from that technology. If so, then one might conclude that current is more of a factor (maybe the only factor) rather than noise on the line in maximizing the performance of the amps.

Thanks for sharing your auditioning experiences , the dutch importer has a couple as well , but they have not lended them to a shop for a show as far as i know , hearing them on wilson or avalon would be fun, i believe indeed that they will not differ a lot from other manufactures .
If they would , something would obviously be wrong.
But hey , the krells have the "steriod" powersupply, which should not stand in the way dynamically , besides whether i could afford the 53 s or not , if i hadn't gambled so much in options/futures trading i might have bought them (laugh)

That's fabulous...keep us posted as the No. 53s continue to break in... And you'll love the creatures even more next summer, when they won't attempt to play tug of war with your air conditioning!

Saluti, Guido