WOULD IT BE DUMB TO BUY A MARK LEVINSON NO 23.5

He bought it :-) and loves it
how wonderful is that!!!!!

congrats !!! Enjoy

This 30 year old LEVINSON is AMAZING!!! LEVINSON IS GOD!!! HAIL TO THE 23.5!!!! What for 2 grand new could even come close to this? I cant believe the clarity of this old amp. Vocals pop right out and are smooth with no grain. The bass is extraordinary. I had an ELECTRON KINETICS EAGLE 2 once which is know for its bass and this LEVINSON 23.5 blows it away!!! Dont know how long I will have till she pops and I will have to take her to George Meyer for a 2 grand fix, but until then this oldie but goodie can still rock!!! 

Just had a vintage Scott 350b tube tuner serviced at George Meyer and although not inexpensive, my ears & eyes say they did a great job, so sleep well knowing they will do right with the Levinson when & if the time comes
enjoy 

ML23.5 and it’s sibling 27.5 are great amps.
@ozzy says ’sterile and lifeless’ Really? Have you had one at home and if so what amp did you compare it to. I notice you did not provide this information.

I own both but the 27.5 no longer works. Will get on to it soon because it is definitely worth repairing. What would one have to spend to equal this performance, let alone surpass it?

Because the 27.5 is much lighter I have hefted it along to friends systems and in every case it has bettered the competition. This includes Threshold, McIntosh, etc. It embarrased a big Bryston to the point where it’s owner wanted buy my ML there and then. Better mids than Krell KSA100. The one amp that challenged it for musicality was one of Bongiorno’s, a GAS son of ampzilla.

Make sure your 23.5 is well ventilated and leave it permanently on. Has plenty of reserve power and usually does not have to work hard with the average speaker. Responds well to a good power cable.

Enjoy

The operational condition of the piece should be verified. I had one and enjoyed it very much. It had one failing that I only discovered after upgrading to a much better speaker- it didn't throw that 3-D image people refer to as a soundstage.  But IMO it was powerful enough to drive anything and
brought out textural information a lesser product would lack. It's also 
a classic looking amplifier that is well built without flashy cosmetics used
by some (otherwise) great companies. You know what I mean. The company has had it's ups and downs, but in the end I would say it's stilla great choice regardless of all the jillions of other products out there.