The Levinson 33h? Pros and cons?


I was wondering how the 33h holds up against the competition?
I am considering purchasing a pair, but am unsure if they will meet the demands of my Revel Salons. I believe that the 33h will in fact sound better than the Levinson 436 series (they are Levinson's current Reference since the 33s were discontinued), but I'm biamping (maybe triamping if you count the pair of Revel Sub 30s I'm using also)and with the double pair of 436s I never run out of power. There is no current way for me to hear a pair of 33hs in my system or for that matter for me to hear a pair thus the deleimma. See my system for more info.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1076767531&read&keyw&zzsgr
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Showing 1 response by cics

I use 33h amps (driving Nova Utopia Be’s) and find them to offer massive amounts of power (more than what I would ever need) over all types of music. They deliver incredible bass and/or volume if need be without stress. (I must add that my version runs at 230V/20A with filtered mains power). I am surprised at your need for so much power even though Revel’s have a lower sensitivity of 86db.

My previous amp was the 432 and have also listened to Halcro’s (not impressive and am in agreement with French_Fries assessment). The 432 is simply outclassed by the 33h.

Pros: musical, transparent…
Cons: brutal at revealing weakness in upstream components/cables

After looking at your system (btw – I also use SR cables), I suggest:
1. Swap 436s for a pair of 33h’s (and use filtered power as 33h current gain section doesn’t use regenerated AC)
2. Upgrade Revel’s to speakers that offer higher efficiency – Maxx 2 or Nova. These go low and would therefore not need additional subs and are mono-wired.
3. Use SR absolute reference interconnects between 32 and 33h.
My preference is for less components and cables…

Hope this helps.