Home
AudioAsylum Trader
Amp/Preamp Asylum: REVIEW: Mark Levinson No. 436 Amplifier (SS) by LRoss

Looking for a new Amp or Preamp? If you're after tubes, post over here.

For Sale Ads

FAQ / News / Events

 

REVIEW: Mark Levinson No. 436 Amplifier (SS)

66.136.99.105


[ Follow Ups ] Thread:  [ Display   All   Email ] [ Amp/Preamp Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Model: No. 436
Category: Amplifier (SS)
Suggested Retail Price: $6999.00 each
Description: 350w Mono Block
Manufacturer URL: Mark Levinson
Model Picture: View

Review by LRoss ( A ) on February 28, 2004 at 11:29:53
IP Address: 66.136.99.105
Add Your Review
for the No. 436


I have owned the 436's for about 1 month now. Before the levinsons i owned a proceed hpa2 and i have auditioned a meridian 558 5ch amp that was bridged to 400wpc in my home with my current equipment. I guess the first thing that needs to be said is that if you are looking for a presence forward, in your face slamming amp this is not the amp for you. The Levinsons push the soundstage back (about row 10) even heavily mic'ed insturments and vocals will not jump out at you as they did with the meridian and to a lesser extent the proceed. Where the levinsons do excel however is in giving you a complete picture of the music. When you dont have vocals and strings drowning out the rest of the music, you begin to hear several layers to the sound stage and each insturment (some insturments you couldnt even hear with the other amps) now has its own space and clairity that i never achieved with the other amps. I suspect that the subtle nature of these amps mean that many people who audition them wont like them, The inital WOW factor just isnt there. One thing that really surprised me about these amplifiers is how forgiving they are of the recordings. Over the years as i have spent more and more money on my system the catalog of music that sounded really good has shrunk. The levinson amps seem to have reversed this trend. Music that i couldnt stand before have now become enjoyable. The amps wont make the poorly produced albums your new favorites but where you couldnt stand to listen to them before they now seem more plateable. Their glairing mistakes toned down and thus made more musical. This is not an amplifier one should buy without auditioning them, I think people will either love them or hate them (a matter of taste) there wont be much middle ground here. As for me I have decided to keep them and search for a more synergistic front end. No matter which way you decide to go i hope you enjoy your amps as much as im enjoying the ML436's


Product Weakness: read the review
Product Strengths: read the review


Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier: Mark Levinson 436, Proceed amp-3
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Lexicon MC12B
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Lexicon RT-10 DVD-A / SACD
Speakers: B&W Nautilus 802's, HTM1, 805's
Cables/Interconnects: Harmonic Tech.
Music Used (Genre/Selections): everything
Room Size (LxWxH): 17 x 16 x 12
Room Comments/Treatments: none
Time Period/Length of Audition: 1 month
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): none
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner




This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Michael Percy Audio  



Topic - REVIEW: Mark Levinson No. 436 Amplifier (SS) - LRoss 11:29:53 02/28/04 ( 2)