Mr Levinson

[The Grand Wazoo]

You like big woofers? Mark Levinson - (the man) is having another go at it.

He's involved in a new project with a company called Daniel Hertz, named after his pappy Daniel Levinson & ML's great, great uncle Heinrich Hertz - yes, the Mr Hertz.

Try the top of the three model range of speakers for size at $75,000 a pair - the M1 speaker's got a horn loaded tweeter, a 10" bass mid driver and a measly old 18" woofer, all wrapped up in a cabinet made by Petrov pianos. Loud? - 100dB/W/m.

http://www.petrof.cz/files/mod_galerie/nahled-1614.jpg

Of course, you'll be needing the 200 watt M5 Telikos monoblocks to drive them with - $6,000 each. Do you think they'll be up to driving those insensitive speakers? - No? Then take two pairs & bi-amp!

Sub woofer cabling & preamp and PC to follow..............

More & better photos here..........
http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/ultimate-gear/a_legend_returns/
http://www.petrof.com/mark-levinson-audio-daniel-hertz.html

[John]

I add these to my lottery wish list

[Themis]

This reminds me...

The group assigned Glenn the task to improve upon their new amplifier reference while the members all pursued their various university courses and exams. Here's a witty repartee from those times: "The American 'comics' rave about Apogees, Mark Levinson and Krells and the type - surely they must have something to offer!" It was Glenn's turn to interject. "When's the last time you heard the 'Apologies'; and have you ever thought about why they find it necessary to design an amplifier that produces enough current to power an arc welder?"

Nevertheless, I wonder whether the M7s have the same sensitivity...

[Mike Reed]

18 inch woofers; now that's a rarity nowadays. Actually it was a rarity back in the big woofer days. It was difficult enough to make cabinets for 15 inch, let alone 18! (Goodmans, that is.)

Chris, with 100db sensitivity, you wouldn't need that much amplification; unless the crossover is a bit of a pig, that is.

I've often heard Mark Levinson stuff described as the American equivalent to Naim, though I've never had the pleasure.

[Mike Reed]

18 inch woofers; now that's a rarity nowadays. Actually it was a rarity back in the big woofer days. It was difficult enough to make cabinets for 15 inch, let alone 18! (Goodmans, that is.)

Chris, with 100db sensitivity, you wouldn't need that much amplification; unless the crossover is a bit of a pig, that is.

I've often heard Mark Levinson stuff described as the American equivalent to Naim, though I've never had the pleasure.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Mike,



Chris, with 100db sensitivity, you wouldn't need that much amplification; unless the crossover is a bit of a pig, that is.

Well, that's what you'd think isn't it, but that's the amp that's being touted to drive them.
Every amp Levinson ever produced (even the 25w ML-2) doubled it's ouput into each halving of impedance, so he's no stranger to 'serious' amplification.


18 inch woofers; now that's a rarity nowadays. Actually it was a rarity back in the big woofer days. It was difficult enough to make cabinets for 15 inch, let alone 18! (Goodmans, that is.)

Mr Levinson used to couple some proper woofers with stacked pairs of Quads and Decca Kelly tweeters in his HQD speaker system. The Hartley woofers were 24 inchers!!!!

My question:

Do you think they'll be up to driving those insensitive speakers?

.............was ever so very slightly tongue in cheek Mike!

[Will]

proper woofers[/I] with stacked pairs of Quads and Decca Kelly tweeters in his HQD speaker system. The Hartley woofers were 24 inchers!!!!

A friend had that set up in Chicago he used to install systems for Levinson in his spare time.

.

[hifi_dave]

Mike,



Every amp Levinson ever produced (even the 25w ML-2) doubled it's ouput into each halving of impedance, so he's no stranger to 'serious' amplification.


Mark Levinson, the man, was only responsible for the very early products and he wasn't there for very long. He and his partners (John Curl IIRC), sold out to Madrigal Labs after just a few years, so most of the products you would be familiar with were Madrigal designs, nothing whatever to do with Mr.Levinson.

Mr.Levinson has had his fingers in many pies since and I'm not sure just how many, there was Cello and Red Rose (Chinese) to my certain knowledge but there were others and he doesn't seem to hang around for long before moving on...:scratch:

[The Grand Wazoo]

.......so most of the products you would be familiar with were Madrigal designs, nothing whatever to do with Mr.Levinson.

The thread was titled Mr Levinson to differentiate between the two. The only MLAS products I'm interested in are those early ones. Tom Colangelo became chief engineer after John Curl left, but that was before Madrigal came along. I understand that that 'selling out' was less than amicable.

Plenty on the early years of Levinson in the library.
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4235

[Mike Reed]

Mike,

My question:


.............was ever so very slightly tongue in cheek Mike!


Touche! I was obviously having a serious senile moment! However, I've never heard of 24 inch woofers in audio; would they be of paper or rigid steel construction, I wonder.

Live and learn from the erudite members of this forum!

[Ritch]

Family relation of mine had (has?) some of the 24 inch Hartley speakers as used in the original Mark Levinson HQD system. They had a white cloth speaker cone and looked real ugly and you could hardly see the cones move powered by ML-2 amplifiers at only 25 watts.

Some history as told to me: H. A. Hartley started his speaker business in London in the 1920's. Years later he sold the busines rights to his USA disrtibutor in New York. Hartley also wrote the book "The Audio Design Handbook". Hartley still make speakers to order and are based in Wilmington, North Carolina.

[Ali Tait]

As an aside,a speaker could have a high quoted sensitivity,but be a very reactive load,and indeed,this is often the case with commercial speakers,where one is sacrificed in order to gain the other.Such speakers would still need a bit of grunt to drive them properly.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Even with high efficiency, the potential for a bit of oomph never goes amiss.

[Ali Tait]

Yes,you can never have too much headroom! :eyebrows:

[Will]

Hartley full range and a Hartley wall of sound:)

.

[Ali Tait]

Wow that looks impressive Will.Bet it sounds good too.

[Mike Reed]

Don't like the wallpaper in the third picture!

Cavity wall insulation could cause problems, I feel!

[Barry]

There was a version of the HQD system that used 30" Hartley woofers! I assume that the move to use larger diameter drive units is to increase the area of the 'piston' and thus move larger volumes of air. In that respect going to an 18" driver only increases the area by 44% over that of a 15" unit, whereas going to 24" or 30" drivers the area is increased by a factor of 2.56 or 4 respectively.

I have lusted after an HQD system since I read about them in the early '70s. Nowhere near it: although I have tried stacked Quad 57s, I do not have the room for them, so content myself with a single pair. I cannot afford the Levinson electronics, though a 'poor man's' HQD can use Quad 405s (as sanctioned by Levinson), and these I do use.

Nowadays I wonder if the duty of the Hartley woofers can by more than capably be undertaken by a modern active sub-woofer? Does anybody have any experience in using a sub-woofer with Quad 57s?

Regards

[The Grand Wazoo]

More photos of a version of the HQD system are to be found here:

http://soundartiwakura.jp/bbs/bbs/board.php?bo_table=audiolisten&wr_id=9

This one has a Sequerra ribbon tweeter rather than the Decca/Kelly unit.
Despite earlier reports to the contrary, this, I would humbly suggest Gents, just may be 'God's Own Electronics'

Here's a taster from the above mentioned website:

http://www.hautefidelite-hifi.com/upload/reportagelevinson/hqd2.jpg

[Barry]

Bloody hell! (I was going to use a more pithy expression - but thought better of it)

That's the sort of audio porn that could cause me to have an involuntary emission!

I would imagine that the lucky owner is single - can't imagine any woman putting up with that lot. Also I'm not sure if the woofers are meant to be directly behind the stacked Quads.

Whoever he is , I'm insanely envious of him.

Regards

[The Grand Wazoo]

For those that are interested in such things, there is now a library article about Hartley Loudspeakers.

One of the interesting things it features is some information about a little known loudspeaker cabinet configuration from waaaaaaaay back called 'The Boffle'.
It might be interesting to try this system again as it was reputed to be pretty special in it's day.

[Alex_UK]

For those that are interested in such things, there is now a library article about Hartley Loudspeakers.

One of the interesting things it features is some information about a little known loudspeaker cabinet configuration from waaaaaaaay back called 'The Boffle'.
It might be interesting to try this system again as it was reputed to be pretty special in it's day.

I read the article, well done Chris, very interesting.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well, you can't ignore a thing with a name like 'Boffle' now, can you!?

[Jonboy]

More photos of a version of the HQD system are to be found here:

http://soundartiwakura.jp/bbs/bbs/board.php?bo_table=audiolisten&wr_id=9

This one has a Sequerra ribbon tweeter rather than the Decca/Kelly unit.
Despite earlier reports to the contrary, this, I would humbly suggest Gents, just may be 'God's Own Electronics'

Here's a taster from the above mentioned website:

http://www.hautefidelite-hifi.com/upload/reportagelevinson/hqd2.jpg


I think i'm in love they certainly look a bit better than mine

[The Grand Wazoo]

I think i'm in love they certainly look a bit better than mine

Blimey, Jon - I've just had a look at the photo you posted of yours!
Let's called yours 'pre-loved' shall we!!!!?

I remember a visit I made to a certain dealer of vintage equipment several years ago. He had a pair of stacked Quads in a room perhaps 8' long (I can't remember exactly) and just wide enough with the speakers up to the side walls so you could walk in between them to get to the hot seat. - Proper earphones!

[Jonboy]

Mine sit firing sideways across the room so that you are only about 7 ft away on a two seater settee giving a simular effect, the difference between being in the sweet spot and not is quite emence, but this is what you get with this sort of set up, the angle of the speakers is key to where the sweet spot is going to end up.