Amp for Revel Ultima Studio 2s

On my first point above, I just heard from my dealer who said his 532h had a bad output stage, which solves the mystery of the poor performance I heard with the Mark Levinson 326S and 532h. Apparently it's not a synergy issue between these 2 ML products after all!

It may still be a synergy thing with Levinson . I've owned half dozen Levinson components over the last ten years or so , still own two ( see system link ) , I have always felt there pre/power amp combo's were not a good match , a little dull or lifeless for me anyway . So far I have kept my #431 power amp but sold the #320S preamp . First I went with an ARC Ref 3 preamp for three years then traded up to the Ayre MX-R , both were considerably more synergetic than the Levinson pre . The #532h is a great sounding amp , I will likely upgrade to it or the full #532 , but I would not recommend using them with one of Levinsons preamps .

interesting insignt! Thanks!

how did the ARC Ref. 3 compare to the Levinson Pre amp?

What Mac gear did you try and what didn't you like about it? Was it in the same room/system as the Levinson/Usher gear your heard?

Never got to hear the ARC Ref. 3 pre-amp, unfortunately. It was for sale used on consignment...I would be interested to hear it some day though. There seems to be a solid chunk of audiphiles who believe strongly in pairing tube pre-amps with solid state amps!

I listened to the Mac C50 pre-amp and the MC452 amp (all solid state Mac gear). I did hear the Levinson/Usher gear in the same room and on the same speakers (Revel Ultima Studio 2s) as the Mac gear (same CD player - a Levinson - and cables too). I found that the Mac gear had a different sound that I'm used to from my current Simaudio gear. The Levinson/Usher combo was closer to the Simaudio sound.

I perceived greater "soundstage depth" and "space" with the Simaudio, and particularly the Levinson (the pre-amp threw a huge, deep soundstage wheras Simaudio is a tad more forward) gear whereas the Mac gear sounded more "direct" with more "body" or "presence" to the music but less depth. Tough to describe in words but you'll hear a significant difference if you do the comparison.

Funny, my Simaudio dealer sells both Mac and Simaudio and he said "If you like Simaudio, chances are you won't like Mac." - it comes down to what you prefer but the two brands are quite different in how they present the music.