80s Levinson Gear - Best Repair/Refurbish?

Www.soundsclassic.com Rockford!

 Brought them my sunfire amp while back.
small mom n,pop family place.

i would suggest sending directly to Levinson for proper work and a new parts warranty.

if not hit sounds classic in Rockford, worth the drive.
  Couple hours from Chicago,
we drove from south burbs, dr.opped off, drove back in 2-3 weeks, flawless work, explained everything they did. Pricing descent.

had some stripped screws on my b stock sunfire signature 600 power trans  former, it was moving and would kick around when moving it around,...... They replaced all screws, and installed a 1/2 rubber pad between the top of transformer and top cover.

happy!

great place, unsure if will fix Leginson, not sure why they wouldn’t, top tier place. don’t be shocked if u drive. There, it’s a small little place, but the work is great.
im thankful I went there, sunfire is perfect!


call em!

I appreciate all the suggestions.  Luckily (said ironically) I don't have any 4 figure budget at the moment to repair anything (I have to see what I have left after April 15) and so I can see what opportunities come along.  

It sounds like the ML-23 and 23.5 are uniquely expensive to repair.  I suppose in auto terminology, the amp is "totaled" in that the repair costs exceed its market value.  So this is not about rational financial decisions, it is about desire for this one amp.  Hmmm...

Better buy a ML-3 the predecessor which wasn’t cramped into a too tiny chassis. They just found out about CAD/CAM designing in 1986 at Madrigal and experimented with it to put all the stuf from a huge ML-3 chassis into the No.23. A ML-3 is easy to service a No. 23 is a nightmare.
Best ML amp is the ML-2 even Nelson Pass used it as a reference.

 

@ jji666, How does the Levinson Gear repair cost compare to purchasing new equipment or some newer preowned Levinson Gear or some other brand?

What kind of warranty comes with the Levinson Gear and what happens if it has issues after that time? I had a similar issue when I had my 20 year Ayre Amp repaired. I had concerns about how long it would last and my retailer suggested I sell it for my piece of mind (I did). Your repair will need to completely inspect your Levinson Gear to determine what repairs are needed. He probably will charge for this regardless of what you decide.

Do you see anything interesting in these listings?

Please click on the above link:

 

This is a 3.5 year old thread but I haven't done anything yet - I have newer gear of similar quality that works fine and I've been using that.

If I recall correctly, the repair price quoted from a Levinson authorized repair center for the ML 23 was about $2800. That was for repair and complete refurbishment, whatever that means.  But while not warranteed it would likely work for decades more after that. 

Now, that's maybe $500 more than working ML 23s are selling for.  But I wouldn't buy any of those that haven't been refurbished because they are nearly certain to cook themselves to death at some point.  I've read and heard it's basically inevitable due to their build.  

Even so, I question the logic of spending $2900 to get something that I could only sell for $2300 or so since most folks wouldn't even trust I had it refurbished.  

My ML 26 still works just fine other than the tape outs don't work and I suspect were intentionally disconnected.  I don't know what the cost to refurbish that one would be.  

In terms of that link, it seems like lots of the Levinson amps from that era have had issues and are starting to crap out.  And the 2 "fully serviced" amps may not have been by an authorized dealer, so not sure if they would fully qualify as original Levinson amps.

I'm in no hurry. Would probably sell them for the right offer as I am more about reliability than vintage quality at the moment.