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Levinson 20.5 monos - Time for a Refurb?

I bought my Mark Levinson 20.5 pure class A mono blocks new in 1990. I loved them for their sound and still do. They have been 100% reliable and I have never had them back to the Levinson or my dealer for anything.

However, they are 16 years old now and except for my Magnum Dynalab tuner, they are the only thing I have not replaced in my system.

Being pure class A amps they run pretty hot.

Question is, is it time I should consider having them checked out, refurbished, capacitors and the like replaced, etc?

If so, who should I consider for this work? Levinson? They are not what they used to be when they designed and made these amps, and I'm not sure they are up to the same quality work they did back then or whether I should trust that their parts will be as good as the original. Someone else? But who?

Has anyone been through this or does anyone have any thoughts about this they can share with me?
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nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,517 posts
 
Are you going to keep them both?
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cipherjuris OP
145 posts
 
No, I'm going to sell the 20.5s sometime soon. I have just been keeping them to try to get a fix on the differences between the M1.2s and the 20.5s.

Ed
herman
1,974 posts
 
I'm glad you found something you like, but you have to ask yourself; Would the Levinson sound better than the Lamm if it were refurbed and didn't have those tired, old capacitors in it?

Why do you say the the Lamm's "should be" better?
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,517 posts
 
Shut up Herman!! ;--)
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cipherjuris OP
145 posts
 
Herman,

I did get to listen to a pair of 20.6s at my dealer's that just came back from a Levinson refurb. They got better over a period of 72 hours of re-break-in and they did sound very good, but still recognizable as 20.5/20.6s. I can't say that they sounded better than before the refurb (Levinson refused to say that also by the way), but they certainly did not sound worse.

The Lamms are a 2004 or 2005 design and are Vladimir Lamm's reference state-of-the-art best that he knows how to design and build. Listening verifies that our best high end audio engineers have not stood still these past 16 years. They have actually found ways to improve their products. Also, some of us believe the tubes in the hybrid design do make the length and decay of notes more realistic while the solid state devices make the attack of the notes more realistic.

Lastly, it was not a question of finding something I like. It was a question of finding something I like even better than my 20.5s

Best,

Ed
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