ATTENTION BIMMERMAN !!!!!

Your prayers have been answered. A Mark Levinson No 390S has just been listed at our for-sale forum. RM15k asking/starting price.

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR ???

As Kirk said to Sulu:
You may indulge yourself....

Hasn't he bought the ML No.36S yet?

Maybe he decided to get a Behringer instead already. hahahahaha

ayoyo wrong timing lor.. "if only..."

RM15K is mad prize. This unit CD tray problem and no spare part for lazer and transport. This model capacitors leaking after 5 year and the conductive liquid from capacitor short out the motherboard inside and it is multi layer board so once happen your RM15K can throw into klang rivers. I know all this, I am tecknical man. Good luck for buy this anyone.

Hi, i'm new here but I have experiences with Mark Levinson CD. My grand uncle is a audiophile who lock himself up in his room many hours a day listening hifi. One day, we found him in his listening chair, music still playing but he already stone cold. With a smile in his face we knew he gone to audio heaven. Anyway that was 8 years ago story.

That time he bought Mark Levinson CD player No.390s and even brand new the CD tray already jamming. You press eject, it will come out but before you put in CD it already go in. Sometimes CD will get jam and scratch. Then shortly after the laser dieded. Then we repaired it and then shortly after, the control board burn because of bad capacitor. Endless problem this unit. So I can confirm all this is true.

Hi-Fi 4 Sale wrote:Hasn't he bought the ML No.36S yet?

Can anyone confirm he bought a 36s? This is a great DAC!!! Comes closest among most DAC to analog sound. The newer 360s already lost the ML family sound in my opinion. The 360s can convert up to 96Khz but not sound analog anymore. The no.390s sound comes in between 36s and 360s but also on the way out of the ML family sound. Plus so many reliability troubles make it not worth it lah. The DCS one box Verdi is my personal choice these days.

I thought he had just quit hifi??

car o scope wrote:I thought he had just quit hifi??

Just quit izzit? I thought something else.

I think he was just joking.
Wait for him to respond.

car o scope wrote:I thought he had just quit hifi??

Yeah.. thought so too and hope not..

From what I understand so far he was trying to find Mark Levinson No.390s right? and finally bought No.36s correct? It's a good move and I want to tell him that from personal experience but he is nowhere to be found. I also PM him but no respond leh. When was last time he login?

I dedicate this song to Mr. Bimmerman wherever you are. Hope you come back soon. If we can't make your problem go away, we make it better...



BTW: Not many digital playback units can handle the busy section of this song like Levinson No.36s can. On most system it will sound like thrash!

This thread is very helpful to learn something about ML Gear.

Hey, where is bimmerman? Anybody heard from him??

kkthen wrote:This thread is very helpful to learn something about ML Gear.

Mark Levinson is a big company. If the ML390S was indeed so useless, I doubt it would have lasted so long. Nevertheless 'teething problems' are known to exist with any new equipment even from large manufacturers, e.g. ML, Krell, Cello, and so forth. Could there is a possibility that the problems reported is from an early unit and later production models are better ? Perhaps more information may help ?

If, like Bimmerman, you are interested in ML gear, then I would encourage you to talk to more ML owners before you make a decision or form a firm opinion. Also bear in mind that with all these high-end equipment, often they have proprietry parts in them. For e.g., the torrodial transformer in the power supply unit for the Mark Levinson No 26 (pre-amp) is a proprietry design meaning made by a famous transformer manufacturer to ML's spec and not available off the shelf. This also means only ML stocks replacement transformers, which means replacing it is expensive. But then the transformer is also a contributing factor to the stability of the power supply and this is an important component for the good sound from the ML26 pre-amp. This means that often a regular technician will have problems repairing such equipment simply because they can't get parts. This is not putting a judgement on them because there are lots of very good technician out there but you need to talk to owners more than repair technicians for high-end equipment when making a decision about how easy or hard to repair the equipment. It's the same for most high-end brands. Even higher-end Karaoke amps from companies like BMB for e.g. have lots of proprietry components, which was what happened to my brother in law when he brought his BMB amp to pasar road for repair and then later have to bring it to HiWay Laser because pasar road technician says cannot repair anymore because cannot get parts but HiWay Laser says, parts are always in stock (my brother in law doesn't know that HiWay Laser is not sole authorised distributor for BMB).

You should consider all these before making a firm decision.

Well Said, Wong.

Sometimes, it could be that local technicians used their own methods and locally made proprietry parts to repair and when they cannot get it repaired properly, blame it on the equipment.

This is the Malaysian Boleh attitude.

Hmmmm....i see the rear end of some nice imported equipment VS126 and if the local parts dont work cant see how anyone will believe its the equipment at fault.

Actually, it is the beautiful rare plannar speaker i am showing. The girl just gets in the way.

Enjoy

Oh yes, the plannars do look good as well.

There's many amplifiers that use custom toroidals, that include brands like Audiolab, Marantz, or other EU make. You're NOT going obtain the exact replacement even from the likes of Farnell or RS components even if its labelled from the same exact toroidal manufacturer. Pray the toroid doesn't die on you and toroids CAN short circuit internally for no apparent reason. NO repairman here can do anything further if a given toroidal transformer go kaput.. either he throw it back at you or he may take ages to find a replacement.

True, high end equipments must be fitted with original parts, no matter how long it takes to order them from the manufacturer. If not, you are going to compromise on the operations and performance.

You can't retrofit yr Ferrari with modified proton parts, can you?
Even if you do, and it works, do you blame the poor performance on the car itself? or on the sub standard parts.
(now...I am not saying all technicians are lousy but just in any industries, there are some bad apples).

So ML with unqualified technicians bound to have problems.

Just my 2 cents

BTW, do you like my Plannar Speakers?

Thanks all for sharing your experiences. Having said this, there are definitely lots of extremely good technicians here in Malaysia and I know a few myself. Just that we need to exercise prudency as well. The problem I also find is that often manufacturers DO NOT like selling their spare parts to outsiders. You ask them for a spare part, they say "bring it in to me and I WILL FIX IT FOR YOU'. But they can be expensive (that torrodial transformer for the ML26 costed RM1k by the way). I wish there are always cheaper alternatives for us but to be fair often the manufacturer needs to ensure quality work is done to repair their equipment since their reputation is at stake.

Anyway, all I am saying is to consider all angles when making any drastic decisions.

Owners of high end equipments shd send it back to the local dealers.

Manufacturer will definately be obliged to replace the defective parts.

Yes, I think they have a right to determine that they don't sell ori parts just to anyone who demands it. Its could be about reputation. All it could need is some one or some people saying not so much but "I had my ML or whatever repaired with use of orignal parts and there's still some problem altogether" Readers may think it was done inhouse, a sloppy job altogether.
Ok...not supposed to make a discussion out of it, but Linn don't simply sell parts to their endusers direct, except for a very small selection like the belt and some other accessories. They particularly leave it to their appointed and trained dealers to ensure the Linn will be properly serviced on return to customer. People here think differently, perhaps because of logistics and price factor, and most often wanting to DIY or some very cheap way out.
I wanted to add that one of the most critical parts to replace is matched output transistors for many mid to hi-end amplifiers in case of a burnout. Not to mention critial bias re-adjustment if neccessary. Replace them with Pasar Rd alternatives...May the Almighty save you...

ML owner here from a family of musicians. ML has been in the family for almost 2 decades. Dad, uncles, cousins... We bought and enjoyed ML. Then in the mid to late 1990s something happen to ML quality. Burnt out boards, leaking caps but never an issue with transformer. Local distributor gave up and sought the help of legendary repairman who relayed the story back to us. Small country this. Not saying ML is bad but there were some products in the range with serious design flaws. 390s was the last ML we bought and it died shortly after my uncle died.

Oops.. sorry to hear that.
Interesting to read that your family has such a strong interest in ML products.
You still keep them till now?

that plannar makes me do secret planning to me wife.. cheers guys.. catch u later!!

ML itself has gone through changes of ownership. E.g. Madrigal bought over the ML brand from Mark Levinson himself, who then went on to create Cello. There were further changes later down the road. I think once a big corporation buys over a hardcore audiophile brand, then there will bound to be some changes to the product, sometimes sonic characteristic, sometimes the more undesirable things like reliability, etc. The hardcore private audiophile manufacturer like Mark Levinson, Krell, etc, they have a different approach to a big corporation. I am not surprised if loyal owners of ML can attest to degradation of quality through the years. Though I understand the latest ML products are much improved in quality. During the KLAVS last year, my friend who is an ML dealer asked me to spend some time in his room to listen to his ML setup and I thought the old 'dark' sounding characteristic (it's like looking through muddy waters) is no more and the modern MLs now sounds suitable transparent but yet retains its good musical qualities. This is why I urged kkthen to consider and check everything carefully if he is interested in ML equipment for his future upgrade. Of course the testimonial by Landy must also be taken into careful considerations as well since that is from actual ML owners.

Hmmm... I really wonder what happened to Bimmerman....

he must be keeping quiet or just totally ignoring this thread already.... dare not come into this thread, otherwise he might end up splurging on the ML after all....

Come out come out, wherever you are beemerman ....

car o scope wrote:Oops.. sorry to hear that.
Interesting to read that your family has such a strong interest in ML products.
You still keep them till now?

Well, just like a particular generation of MB vehicles with reliability and QC problems. Legendary marque but still they faltered. But we still bought these cars because we had gotten accustomed to the way they drove and their core engineering values.

My family chose Mark Levinson because we felt that it came closest to reproducing real intrument tones, timbres, dynamics and such. Speakers were also ML but Martin Logan. They were all good while they lasted. After 5 years the problems started to surface and it was endless repairs and more repairs. The Martin Logans died first. Then the ML CD player staryed having tray problems, then the preamp and then power amp. Planned obsolescence? Sure seems like it. I mean if you bought an exotic car you can surely afford the next replacement model in 5 years time right?

Yes, the stuff is still there in the old house. Somewhere in the storeroom.

When buying used equipments, just be careful or you could end up in a money pit trap.

mugenfoo wrote:he must be keeping quiet or just totally ignoring this thread already.... dare not come into this thread, otherwise he might end up splurging on the ML after all....

Come out come out, wherever you are beemerman ....

Hey Moofoo, he did splurge on the ML lah. He got the No.36s right? But not gentleman lah this Beemerman. I PM him, I dedicate song to him and he still no respond wor

Just want to offer him some comfort mah. I don't think he's coming back lah.

He did however said 'goodbye' and that was it.

CT-Boy wrote:He did however said 'goodbye' and that was it.

That's really sad, There was so much passion in his posts and he seemed like a nice person who shared everything he learnt. looks like i'll never get to know this enigmatic character now. Hoi! Beemerdude!!! Come back lah!!!

alright guys, theres a pair of no 33 for sale & ready to be shipped world WILD??

Landy wrote:
Hey Moofoo, he did splurge on the ML lah. He got the No.36s right? But not gentleman lah this Beemerman. I PM him, I dedicate song to him and he still no respond wor

Just want to offer him some comfort mah. I don't think he's coming back lah.

He did mention somewhere that he received lotsa PMs and now I know who sent him those.

I share the same view, Landy.
Too bad, one of the few postings that I will be missing here..
Anyway, welcome aboard Landy. I am from Penang too but 'cari makan' in S'gor ler..

Landy wrote:

CT-Boy wrote:He did however said 'goodbye' and that was it.

That's really sad, There was so much passion in his posts and he seemed like a nice person who shared everything he learnt. looks like i'll never get to know this enigmatic character now. Hoi! Beemerdude!!! Come back lah!!!

VS126 wrote:Owners of high end equipments shd send it back to the local dealers.

Manufacturer will definately be obliged to replace the defective parts.

Vince !!! Dude !!!!! your picture ... what an ugly pair of buns !!! EwwwwwwWWWWwwWWWwwWW!!

mugenfoo wrote:

VS126 wrote:Owners of high end equipments shd send it back to the local dealers.

Manufacturer will definately be obliged to replace the defective parts.

Vince !!! Dude !!!!! your picture ... what an ugly pair of buns !!! EwwwwwwWWWWwwWWWwwWW!!

Brings new meaning to showing us the other cheek Mr. MooFoo

Calling Mr. Bimmerman!!! Another Mark Levinson for sale. This time it's a No.39. Can you hear me Mr. Bimmerman???

I guess only man likes it. Ugly or not, I think I hv 99% of the real man here with me.

Sorry Mr Mugenfoo, next time I will post some hairy man's buns for yr viewing pleasure. Cheers.

C'mon ... look at all that cellulite !!

mugen....

One man's food... another man's poison......what say you.... .

Let's just leave it at that and move on.....to some curvy Hifi discussions...

Have a good night....

cheers

cheers

Me, I just wish the picture is turned over to the other side...

OOOPSSS, here I go again ....

Careful WongKN, the other side of the picture could be a Tranny or a HeeShie!!!

WongKN wrote:Me, I just wish the picture is turned over to the other side...

OOOPSSS, here I go again ....

Mr. Moderator, behave! Shouldn't you be applying your censorship powers here instead of condoning nudity in the forum and ogling even? Por favor senor moderatore?

Nah, just kidding Knock yourself out!

Wow, first we have a rose and now, Wonder Woman.

Say, have you guys heard the joke (Pub joke) about super heros of which Wonder Woman is the main character?

Sorry to digress.

rocketman,
Is it the one about Wonderwoman, Invisibleman and Superman?