Is Mark Levinson still considered up there with the best of the best?

Dear @68pete  : "" Once you get them recapped with good caps they preform great""

Rigth you are because I just made it that with the 20.6's and is a great quality improvement in its performance whole levels.

R.

FULL DISCLOSURE:

My former dealership made some of the solid oak stands for the Levinson HQD system:

We also made some huge cabs for the Hartley 24" woofers that some HQD customers used.

What I can say as facts:  Levinson company was a VERY SLOW PAY, which is why we only made a few for them.  We were small and could not extend credit for months and months.   Next, compared to Audio Research gear in those days, his stuff was SHRILL and lacked depth and transparency on Magnepan speakers, which were (and remain) the best speakers for accurate listening. (I know, you can "measure" them and they lack this and that and the other.  Best advice is to listen to them IN YOUR ROOM with quality hardware and MAKE UP YOUR OWN MIND.)  Finally, we never sold much of his stuff because, as expensive as Audio Research was in those days (comparatively), his stuff was way more and sounded way less.  This is not to say the mil-spec parts and Curl designs were second rate, just that they did not SOUND good on revealing speakers, including his HQD speaker system.  But boy, those 24" Hartley's were the BOMB!

As for today, you have to listen for yourself IN YOUR ROOM and decide if it is for you.

Cheers!

I should have did my homework a little better before I started this thread. John Curl was the chief designer behind Mark Levinson products when they were in their infancy and Mark Levinson was the man who promoted the product under his name? 

ML is a bit of a shady character. When running Red Rose music he apparently re-badged a Chinese Dussen amp and sold it under the Red Rose Name for 7K. Also he's multi talented he and his former wife Kim Cattrall co-wrote a book on sex.

+1 @twoleftears

for the noobs and unaware, you might provide a synopsis of what has happened to revel owners and their speakers