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 porschecab

SGR -

The 33H's, though lack a bit of power for 'aggressive' listening periods, they still stomp the 436s in EVERY respect. The Salons will prefer their massive damp factor, huge current and you will enjoy their sound much over the 436s. Don't get me wrong, the 436s are nice, but they are not the 33H's.

I have heard the 33s, 33Hs, and 436s quite a bit. This would include the following:

B&W Signature 800s, 2 pair in a room.
Wilson Audio WP V's, 2 pair in a room.
Wilson Audio WP VIs, 2 pair in a room.
JBL K2S9800SE, 2 pair in a room.

Each set we experimented with the 4 33's, 4 33H's, and 4 436s.

We actually ran the ML40 with a 7 pack of 436s, biamping the front stage with all of the above.

Now, the funny part? We ended up with the JBL S800s running as monoblocks to the K2S9800SEs. That is a great match and magical amplification to that speaker. That amp to other speakers sucks, but to the K2, awesome.

The Revel and B&W need more current than the JBL amp can deliver and the 33H (or the Krell FPB-350MCx / FPB-450MCx) are probably the absolute best match for these speakers.
Now, I would be remiss to omit the LAMM amps, but with limited experience with LAMM, I can't comment much. Krell and Levinson are GREAT with the Revel and B&W.

Hope this helps.

Dan