Mark Levinson – the man and a literally incendiary visit to my home

[Neil McCauley]

When the Quad 63 was announced, the makers had the foresight to anticipate a high level of demand. A carefully thought out waiting list system was introduced and dealers were warned that demo units were, initially at least, like gold dust. The clear implication being not to sell them, despite the ludicrously inflated offers made by enthusiasts. Replacement demo units were unlikely to arrive. Okay, fair enough.Coincidental with this I was considering taking on the Levinson range of electronics. To hasten my decision, the man himself, Mark. Levinson visited my house, where I had the precious ELS63s.

He brought a pair of the largest power amps I seen up to that date, and an ML6a or ML7 too. I can’t remember which.The power amps had mechanical hum, so we left them powered up in the hall. I played a few records to get started. The sound was startling. Mark pointed out that this wasn’t really showing the amps at their best, although he was deeply impressed with the Quads. This was his first time with them although he’d used the Quad 57s to great effect in his mighty HQD system.Anyway, he brought out one of his own test pressings of a harpsichord recorded by him, on his own modified valve reel to reel tape recorder (an ML5 I think) in a church somewhere in Basle, Switzerland. The stylus hit the groves and .....

http://www.hifianswers.com/2016/01/exactly-way-it-happened-folks-mark-html/

[Barry]

That's fascinating reading Howard. As a recent user of Mark Levinson electronics with Quad ESLs (the '57s) (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?10304-Mark-Levinson-and-Me-–-A-tale-of-trial-and-tribulation-in-three-parts) I found your article extremely interesting: I would have loved to have met the man himself and ask his views on what makes a good audio system.

I am surprised however that the Quad 63s caught fire. The ML amplifier driving them was probably the 200W per channel ML3. Even so, the corona detector built into the Quad 63s used to detect the onset of arcing should have triggered and operated the 'crowbar' protection. Perhaps it couldn't act quickly enough.

The Mark Levinson Recordings occasionally come up on eBay (for ridiculous prices), but only a half dozen or so recordings were made and there were none to interest me musically, even so I would love to hear one or two for the sound quality alone.

The ML5 tape recorder used by Levinson was I believe a modified Studer A80-RC, running at 30 ips which had the Studer electronics replaced by customised Levinson solid state designs. The microphones used were either Schoeps or Bruel & Kjaer designs. http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?4235-Mark-Levinson

Anyway a fascinating anecdote - thanks for sharing.

Barry

[Neil McCauley]

That's fascinating reading Howard. As a recent user of Mark Levinson electronics with Quad ESLs (the '57s) (http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?10304-Mark-Levinson-and-Me-–-A-tale-of-trial-and-tribulation-in-three-parts) I found your article extremely interesting: I would have loved to have met the man himself and ask his views on what makes a good audio system.

I am surprised however that the Quad 63s caught fire. The ML amplifier driving them was probably the 200W per channel ML3. Even so, the corona detector built into the Quad 63s used to detect the onset of arcing should have triggered and operated the 'crowbar' protection. Perhaps it couldn't act quickly enough.

The Mark Levinson Recordings occasionally come up on eBay (for ridiculous prices), but only a half dozen or so recordings were made and there were none to interest me musically, even so I would love to hear one or two for the sound quality alone.

The ML5 tape recorder used by Levinson was I believe a modified Studer A80-RC, running at 30 ips which had the Studer electronics replaced by customised Levinson solid state designs. The microphones used were either Schoeps or Bruel & Kjaer designs. http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?4235-Mark-Levinson

Anyway a fascinating anecdote - thanks for sharing.

Barry

Hello Barry - and thank you. Re Mr L, he was face-to-face a gentleman and probably was / is everywhere else. I met his then nemesis Mr Sandford (Sandy) Berlin - subsequently of Madrigal. I didn't find Mr Berlin to be a gentleman at all. In the battle for the Mark Levinson brand name, a battle which Mr. Berlin won, given the difference in attitude and behavior of the two protagonists, the outcome didn't surprise me. Mark had at that time no desire to discuss this.

My demo 63's were very early production models and i believe were subsequently modified based on the experience. Yes, it probably was an ML3 and yes, it was thought at the time that the 'crowbar' couldn't work quickly enough.

Again you are correct re the ML5. I have the spec sheet ..... somewhere.