Barry
17-03-2011, 19:17
I notice that I have reached another half khilad in my postings, so as is my wont on these occasions, this posting will be little longer than usual.
In fact it is a mini-saga of near epic proportions. Neither tragedy nor comedy, but a tale of shock, surprise, disappointment, hopes raised then dashed, bafflement, delight, and near-sleepless nights. A tale of an ambition achieved, generosity, transatlantic travel, corporate politics, a demonstration of professional integrity to a standard that I thought no longer existed in this country – and a happy ending. So go and either make yourself a cup of coffee (you’ll need it) or skip this thread!
Now read on …
Mark Levinson and Me
Do you sometimes wonder if Nature intended that you should not own a particular brand of audio-equipment? I think Nature had it in for me over Mark Levinson equipment.
For many years I have held a long-term ambition to own Mark Levinson equipment. My fascination with the marque (sorry, no pun intended) goes back to reading about Levinson equipment in the mid ‘70s. Built to uncompromising standards, hugely expensive, but receiving rave reviews, I became hooked. The fact that only the likes of well-heeled dentists could actually afford it did nothing to dampen my interest. At that time all I could do was to read about ML gear and to occasionally listen to the gear at the few hi-fi shows attended. But one day I knew I would eventually achieve my ambition – I just would have never realised it would be such a rocky road!
Fit the first: The Mark Levinson ML10A preamplifier
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy88/barrydhunt/41.jpg?t=1300317411
This appeared for auction on eBay mid-2009 (remember the date). Whilst corresponding with the seller, I learnt that just before the auction he had been playing the preamp to a friend who was so impressed that he had pleaded with the seller not to put it up for auction but to sell it to him instead. Well unfortunately for him it was auctioned and I won it for a good price, duly paid the monies and had the unit shipped over from the US. The shipping costs were reasonable and the seller had, on his own volition, valued the consignment at a fraction of its true cost, so avoiding my having to pay import duty.
The unit arrived still set to operate on the US mains voltage of 110V, but no matter, the operating manual sent with the preamp provided instructions for the user adjustment of the mains voltage. I followed the instructions with extreme care. At the same time I removed the lid to adjust the DIL switches inside to set up the overall gain and the cartridge loading on the phono input (and also to admire the beautiful construction), installed the amp, switched on and sat back to wallow in the new found joy of having achieved my ambition.
Oh dear – immediately there was some thing wrong! Only one channel was working and the area above the power supply was getting hot, very hot! Switched off, let the amp cool down, waited for about ten minutes and tried again. This time the preamp ran cool but still only one channel was working. Disconnected everything, and again looked inside. On removing the lid there was an ominous smell of hot/burnt plastic. One power resistor looked as if it had definitely been overloaded and there was small scorch mark on the pcb near it.
Got in touch with the seller for his comments. Was assured by him that the preamp had been shipped in full working order and he was obviously concerned and upset to hear the news. I genuinely believe that it was an unfortunate coincidence that the amp had failed after changing the mains setting, but my newly acquired pride and joy was looking decidedly tarnished. My immediate concern was how to get it repaired – if it could still be repaired: my fear was one of the secondary windings of the toroidal main transformer had burnt out.
I e-mailed Madrigal in the US (then owner of the Mark Levinson brand) explained the problem, described the symptoms and asked if I could send it to them to be repaired. Madrigal replied suggesting I send it to a former employee of Madrigal specialising in Levinson gear: the Highend Workshop, run by the unbelievably helpful Mark Dolbear.
Took the sorry amp over to Mark’s place and he reassured me that the amp could be repaired and thought it was likely that a voltage regulator in the power supply had failed and in doing so may have taken out a few other components with it. Mark will only use replacement components provided by the manufacture (or better), so I would have to wait a few weeks for him to make up an order to Madrigal, since to order them piecemeal would not be cost effective with respect to carriage costs.
Two months later Mark had all the parts he needed and I was expecting to have a working preamp by Christmas. Not so – it appeared there were other components that also needed replacing: the ‘blow back’ had damaged the circuit much more than first realised.
By mid November 2009 those parts available from Madrigal had arrived, but Madrigal could not supply all of the parts required. And so another problem raised its ugly head: to buy the extra parts through alternative suppliers would mean placing a large minimum order (say 100) when only 2 would be needed. Mark was understandably unwilling to invest in a large amount of stock, which would only get used up over a very long period of time, if at all. Pleading e-mails were sent to Madrigal (now part of Harman International) to make the greatest effort to search through their warehouses to see if a few of the components could be found. Madrigal/Harman were not particularly interested or helpful in this regard, but Mark has extensive contacts in the US and the parts were found. Frankly Harman are not interested in the repair of Levinson items dating back to a time before they took over Madrigal (let alone those items made before Madrigal bought out Mark Levinson).
Things start to become unclear from this point on. All through the early part of 2010 Mark was quietly working on the amp. It seemed that in fixing one problem, another would appear. That in turn would be fixed only for a third to appear and so on … ! The final straw for Mark was when the amp had been apparently ‘fixed’, but when the volume was advanced beyond ‘5’ (at the 12 o’clock position) an ultrasonic oscillation would appear at the output. Mark was baffled, but would not admit defeat; he had told me he would repair the amp and he is a man of his word. I suggested he hang on to the amp for a few more months and work on it in the ‘quiet moments’ between other repair and servicing work.
Unbeknown to me he had got in touch with ex-Levinson engineers in the US and had arranged for the amp to be returned to land of its birth for a fresh set of minds to try and solve the problem. Again this was done ‘part time’ during the rest of 2010.
Would the amp ever be repaired? Well Mark’s dogged determination and perseverance paid off. Mirabile dictu, Mark phoned me up in February this year to say that with the help of his colleagues in the US the amp was now back with him and in full working order. What had initially seemed a straightforward task had taken twenty months to complete!
However such is the astonishing personal and professional integrity of Mark, that he would not charge me anything for his time nor anything for the components he had bought. All I was charged was the equivalent of 5 hour’s work and that included virtually rebuilding the rogue channel, the airfreight and insurance. In Mark’s words: “I said I would fix your amp and if I promise a customer I will do that, I will do it”. His professional pride would not allow him to admit defeat.
Fit the second: The Mark Levinson ML28 preamp and power supply
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy88/barrydhunt/014-1.jpg?t=1300389271
Whilst the ML10 was being repaired, the above appeared on eBay. I was attracted to it as I am interested in eventually arranging my system so that the power amps are located close to the speakers and are connected to the preamp via balanced lines. This requires a preamp having a balanced output (and the power amps to have balanced inputs). With a lot of preamplifiers boasting balanced outputs, the ‘cold’ or negative going portion of the signal is obtained by tapping off the positive, unbalanced output and passing it through a unity gain inverting amplifier. This provides correct signal amplitude but not correct phase, since the negative going signal has gone through additional circuitry. Levinson provides a true balanced output by using very carefully matched amplifiers for both halves.
I was able to win this again at a reasonable price and it was duly dispatched from the US. The seller had however stated the full value of the amp on the custom declaration form, so costing me not inconsiderable import duty, VAT and Parcelforce’s handling fee!
It too was set for the US mains voltage. I had thought of changing this myself: it would be a simple matter of moving a couple of links in the power supply, however I could not see how to open up the case. So another visit was made to Mark Dolbear, who has access to all the ML circuit diagrams. As it turned out, had I found out how to open up the case, the rearrangement of the links is not at all obvious without reference to the schematic. Anyway it gave me a chance to get an update on the ML10.
The ML28 has been in use with me for a few months now and I am delighted with its performance – a real upgrade for me; observed not only by myself but also independently (and unsolicited) by visitors to my home.
Fit the third: Mark Levinson ML26 preamp, ML25 phonostage and power supply
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy88/barrydhunt/800px-No26s_front1.jpg
Actually this is the ML preamp that I really wanted. It again offers a true balanced output as well as some inputs. Furthermore it is far more versatile than the 28, having additional features: independent channel gain controls, effecting a balance control; a stereo/mono switch, which I regard as essential when listening to mono sources; and an absolute polarity switch, which is fun to play with and which some purists regard as essential (I haven’t made my mind up on this).
Successfully won from eBay, the seller said he would send the three items as two parcels. He also asked how much he should state as the value on the customs form. I suggested a reasonable figure and the units were dispatched. Parcelforce informed me of the duty, VAT and handling charges. These seemed to be much lower than expected. It turned out that these were for one parcel only, that containing the phonostage and power supply – and that was all that was delivered! Quick phone call to Parcelforce revealed that was all they knew about. Clearly despite being posted on the same day in the US, the two parcels were being treated as two separate consignments and were clearing customs separately. The second parcel was delivered nearly a week later!
So far so good? No, quite the opposite: the essential and unique umbilical cables connecting both the phonostage and the preamp to the common dual channel power supply were missing! Without them the equipment was useless. Again a somewhat frantic e-mail to the seller revealed that he had omitted to pack them. Apologising profusely, he said he would send them 'priority airmail'. So I waited and waited, and waited. After a week I asked the seller for the tracking number. All the seller could provide me was the date and place of posting, the courier (whose name I forget: DHL, UPS?) did not use tracking numbers. Without a tracking number UK customs simply could not help me. The seller was understandably sympathetic to my concern but could not give me any more information.
The connectors are multi-way Fischer plugs, possibly obtainable from the UK agent of the Swiss company, if I knew their model number. And even if I could obtain four such connectors, I did not know how they would be wired. No doubt the redoubtable Mark Dolbear would have been of assistance but I would still have to have the leads made up (the pin density is slightly tighter than that of DIN plugs and I suspect at least nine or ten pins are wired).
After a month (and a month of near sleepless nights at times), the cables arrived. However the seller had valued them at $200, generating yet more duty, VAT and handling charges.
And once again a visit to Mark was necessary to have the mains voltage adjusted. At the same time we set up the various gain/sensitivity levels, and loading impedances. Just as well Mark was there – there are many misprints in the operating manual!
Looking back
So what to make of this, at times, frustrating, worrying and stressful experience? Well I am by nature a fairly stoical sort of person and put all this down to unfortunate coincidence (“shit happens” as Buddhists would say) and to the practical realities of buying equipment from another country.
You might think that in answer to the question "would I buy more Levinson gear?" I would reply "never again" - yet I already have my sights on a pair of ML2 power monoblocks. This time they are in the UK (Fit the fourth?)
I must finish this piece by again singing the praises of Mark Dolbear at Highend Workshop. His level of professional diligence and integrity matches that of Quad (which I have used occasionally) and is of a level not often seen these days.
www.highendworkshop.co.uk
mark@highendworkshop.co.uk
In fact it is a mini-saga of near epic proportions. Neither tragedy nor comedy, but a tale of shock, surprise, disappointment, hopes raised then dashed, bafflement, delight, and near-sleepless nights. A tale of an ambition achieved, generosity, transatlantic travel, corporate politics, a demonstration of professional integrity to a standard that I thought no longer existed in this country – and a happy ending. So go and either make yourself a cup of coffee (you’ll need it) or skip this thread!
Now read on …
Mark Levinson and Me
Do you sometimes wonder if Nature intended that you should not own a particular brand of audio-equipment? I think Nature had it in for me over Mark Levinson equipment.
For many years I have held a long-term ambition to own Mark Levinson equipment. My fascination with the marque (sorry, no pun intended) goes back to reading about Levinson equipment in the mid ‘70s. Built to uncompromising standards, hugely expensive, but receiving rave reviews, I became hooked. The fact that only the likes of well-heeled dentists could actually afford it did nothing to dampen my interest. At that time all I could do was to read about ML gear and to occasionally listen to the gear at the few hi-fi shows attended. But one day I knew I would eventually achieve my ambition – I just would have never realised it would be such a rocky road!
Fit the first: The Mark Levinson ML10A preamplifier
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy88/barrydhunt/41.jpg?t=1300317411
This appeared for auction on eBay mid-2009 (remember the date). Whilst corresponding with the seller, I learnt that just before the auction he had been playing the preamp to a friend who was so impressed that he had pleaded with the seller not to put it up for auction but to sell it to him instead. Well unfortunately for him it was auctioned and I won it for a good price, duly paid the monies and had the unit shipped over from the US. The shipping costs were reasonable and the seller had, on his own volition, valued the consignment at a fraction of its true cost, so avoiding my having to pay import duty.
The unit arrived still set to operate on the US mains voltage of 110V, but no matter, the operating manual sent with the preamp provided instructions for the user adjustment of the mains voltage. I followed the instructions with extreme care. At the same time I removed the lid to adjust the DIL switches inside to set up the overall gain and the cartridge loading on the phono input (and also to admire the beautiful construction), installed the amp, switched on and sat back to wallow in the new found joy of having achieved my ambition.
Oh dear – immediately there was some thing wrong! Only one channel was working and the area above the power supply was getting hot, very hot! Switched off, let the amp cool down, waited for about ten minutes and tried again. This time the preamp ran cool but still only one channel was working. Disconnected everything, and again looked inside. On removing the lid there was an ominous smell of hot/burnt plastic. One power resistor looked as if it had definitely been overloaded and there was small scorch mark on the pcb near it.
Got in touch with the seller for his comments. Was assured by him that the preamp had been shipped in full working order and he was obviously concerned and upset to hear the news. I genuinely believe that it was an unfortunate coincidence that the amp had failed after changing the mains setting, but my newly acquired pride and joy was looking decidedly tarnished. My immediate concern was how to get it repaired – if it could still be repaired: my fear was one of the secondary windings of the toroidal main transformer had burnt out.
I e-mailed Madrigal in the US (then owner of the Mark Levinson brand) explained the problem, described the symptoms and asked if I could send it to them to be repaired. Madrigal replied suggesting I send it to a former employee of Madrigal specialising in Levinson gear: the Highend Workshop, run by the unbelievably helpful Mark Dolbear.
Took the sorry amp over to Mark’s place and he reassured me that the amp could be repaired and thought it was likely that a voltage regulator in the power supply had failed and in doing so may have taken out a few other components with it. Mark will only use replacement components provided by the manufacture (or better), so I would have to wait a few weeks for him to make up an order to Madrigal, since to order them piecemeal would not be cost effective with respect to carriage costs.
Two months later Mark had all the parts he needed and I was expecting to have a working preamp by Christmas. Not so – it appeared there were other components that also needed replacing: the ‘blow back’ had damaged the circuit much more than first realised.
By mid November 2009 those parts available from Madrigal had arrived, but Madrigal could not supply all of the parts required. And so another problem raised its ugly head: to buy the extra parts through alternative suppliers would mean placing a large minimum order (say 100) when only 2 would be needed. Mark was understandably unwilling to invest in a large amount of stock, which would only get used up over a very long period of time, if at all. Pleading e-mails were sent to Madrigal (now part of Harman International) to make the greatest effort to search through their warehouses to see if a few of the components could be found. Madrigal/Harman were not particularly interested or helpful in this regard, but Mark has extensive contacts in the US and the parts were found. Frankly Harman are not interested in the repair of Levinson items dating back to a time before they took over Madrigal (let alone those items made before Madrigal bought out Mark Levinson).
Things start to become unclear from this point on. All through the early part of 2010 Mark was quietly working on the amp. It seemed that in fixing one problem, another would appear. That in turn would be fixed only for a third to appear and so on … ! The final straw for Mark was when the amp had been apparently ‘fixed’, but when the volume was advanced beyond ‘5’ (at the 12 o’clock position) an ultrasonic oscillation would appear at the output. Mark was baffled, but would not admit defeat; he had told me he would repair the amp and he is a man of his word. I suggested he hang on to the amp for a few more months and work on it in the ‘quiet moments’ between other repair and servicing work.
Unbeknown to me he had got in touch with ex-Levinson engineers in the US and had arranged for the amp to be returned to land of its birth for a fresh set of minds to try and solve the problem. Again this was done ‘part time’ during the rest of 2010.
Would the amp ever be repaired? Well Mark’s dogged determination and perseverance paid off. Mirabile dictu, Mark phoned me up in February this year to say that with the help of his colleagues in the US the amp was now back with him and in full working order. What had initially seemed a straightforward task had taken twenty months to complete!
However such is the astonishing personal and professional integrity of Mark, that he would not charge me anything for his time nor anything for the components he had bought. All I was charged was the equivalent of 5 hour’s work and that included virtually rebuilding the rogue channel, the airfreight and insurance. In Mark’s words: “I said I would fix your amp and if I promise a customer I will do that, I will do it”. His professional pride would not allow him to admit defeat.
Fit the second: The Mark Levinson ML28 preamp and power supply
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy88/barrydhunt/014-1.jpg?t=1300389271
Whilst the ML10 was being repaired, the above appeared on eBay. I was attracted to it as I am interested in eventually arranging my system so that the power amps are located close to the speakers and are connected to the preamp via balanced lines. This requires a preamp having a balanced output (and the power amps to have balanced inputs). With a lot of preamplifiers boasting balanced outputs, the ‘cold’ or negative going portion of the signal is obtained by tapping off the positive, unbalanced output and passing it through a unity gain inverting amplifier. This provides correct signal amplitude but not correct phase, since the negative going signal has gone through additional circuitry. Levinson provides a true balanced output by using very carefully matched amplifiers for both halves.
I was able to win this again at a reasonable price and it was duly dispatched from the US. The seller had however stated the full value of the amp on the custom declaration form, so costing me not inconsiderable import duty, VAT and Parcelforce’s handling fee!
It too was set for the US mains voltage. I had thought of changing this myself: it would be a simple matter of moving a couple of links in the power supply, however I could not see how to open up the case. So another visit was made to Mark Dolbear, who has access to all the ML circuit diagrams. As it turned out, had I found out how to open up the case, the rearrangement of the links is not at all obvious without reference to the schematic. Anyway it gave me a chance to get an update on the ML10.
The ML28 has been in use with me for a few months now and I am delighted with its performance – a real upgrade for me; observed not only by myself but also independently (and unsolicited) by visitors to my home.
Fit the third: Mark Levinson ML26 preamp, ML25 phonostage and power supply
http://i780.photobucket.com/albums/yy88/barrydhunt/800px-No26s_front1.jpg
Actually this is the ML preamp that I really wanted. It again offers a true balanced output as well as some inputs. Furthermore it is far more versatile than the 28, having additional features: independent channel gain controls, effecting a balance control; a stereo/mono switch, which I regard as essential when listening to mono sources; and an absolute polarity switch, which is fun to play with and which some purists regard as essential (I haven’t made my mind up on this).
Successfully won from eBay, the seller said he would send the three items as two parcels. He also asked how much he should state as the value on the customs form. I suggested a reasonable figure and the units were dispatched. Parcelforce informed me of the duty, VAT and handling charges. These seemed to be much lower than expected. It turned out that these were for one parcel only, that containing the phonostage and power supply – and that was all that was delivered! Quick phone call to Parcelforce revealed that was all they knew about. Clearly despite being posted on the same day in the US, the two parcels were being treated as two separate consignments and were clearing customs separately. The second parcel was delivered nearly a week later!
So far so good? No, quite the opposite: the essential and unique umbilical cables connecting both the phonostage and the preamp to the common dual channel power supply were missing! Without them the equipment was useless. Again a somewhat frantic e-mail to the seller revealed that he had omitted to pack them. Apologising profusely, he said he would send them 'priority airmail'. So I waited and waited, and waited. After a week I asked the seller for the tracking number. All the seller could provide me was the date and place of posting, the courier (whose name I forget: DHL, UPS?) did not use tracking numbers. Without a tracking number UK customs simply could not help me. The seller was understandably sympathetic to my concern but could not give me any more information.
The connectors are multi-way Fischer plugs, possibly obtainable from the UK agent of the Swiss company, if I knew their model number. And even if I could obtain four such connectors, I did not know how they would be wired. No doubt the redoubtable Mark Dolbear would have been of assistance but I would still have to have the leads made up (the pin density is slightly tighter than that of DIN plugs and I suspect at least nine or ten pins are wired).
After a month (and a month of near sleepless nights at times), the cables arrived. However the seller had valued them at $200, generating yet more duty, VAT and handling charges.
And once again a visit to Mark was necessary to have the mains voltage adjusted. At the same time we set up the various gain/sensitivity levels, and loading impedances. Just as well Mark was there – there are many misprints in the operating manual!
Looking back
So what to make of this, at times, frustrating, worrying and stressful experience? Well I am by nature a fairly stoical sort of person and put all this down to unfortunate coincidence (“shit happens” as Buddhists would say) and to the practical realities of buying equipment from another country.
You might think that in answer to the question "would I buy more Levinson gear?" I would reply "never again" - yet I already have my sights on a pair of ML2 power monoblocks. This time they are in the UK (Fit the fourth?)
I must finish this piece by again singing the praises of Mark Dolbear at Highend Workshop. His level of professional diligence and integrity matches that of Quad (which I have used occasionally) and is of a level not often seen these days.
www.highendworkshop.co.uk
mark@highendworkshop.co.uk