The caps were already blown (the noise coming out of your left channel). The smoke may be caused by the leak that spilled over some parts during transport (or when it got flipped over) and caused a short somewhere. It is a well documented issue with the 300 series amps.
I had firsthand experience with the amp and Levinson "service" and reported my experience a few years back. The Levinson tech told me it was a design issue (capacitor driven too hard). They had switched capacitor supplier a few times to try to get better caps that could handle the load without blowing up. My amp got serviced 3 times through an 8-year period.
A few years back, after all these complaints started surfacing, Mark Levinson extended the warranty on the 300 series amps for another 5 years. You may want to contact them to see if your amp is still under warranty. If not, the cost will be $2k or more. Check first as shipping may be separate and will surely add another $500 (both ways).
FrankC
I had firsthand experience with the amp and Levinson "service" and reported my experience a few years back. The Levinson tech told me it was a design issue (capacitor driven too hard). They had switched capacitor supplier a few times to try to get better caps that could handle the load without blowing up. My amp got serviced 3 times through an 8-year period.
A few years back, after all these complaints started surfacing, Mark Levinson extended the warranty on the 300 series amps for another 5 years. You may want to contact them to see if your amp is still under warranty. If not, the cost will be $2k or more. Check first as shipping may be separate and will surely add another $500 (both ways).
FrankC