Mark Levinson 26 pre amp

Thanks Paul and Nsgarh,

It has been 4 months waiting already. Although some friend offer me 38 and 38s preamp as well as good preamp like ARC LS7 and Sphinx Project 8 etc. I want to wait for 26 or 26s because I don't want to try other preamp with a risk of not match of 27 power amp and then draw a conclusion of Mark amp is not good enough. Should someone know any 26 or 26s avaliabe. I am interest to buy at reasonable offer.

Ken,

You might have to wait a long time. The 38s is a very good preamp and you can always get your money out of it. You should take it until a 26s (NOT a 26!) comes along.

But other preamps will work well with a ML27. Just make sure it has balanced outputs so you can use the balanced inputs on the 27.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I waited almost a year to find a 26s, and another 6 months after that to find a 25s.

how does the older pre and amp ( 23.5 and 26) compare to the newer one
i have 380s and 336 what are the sonic difference.

A1126lin: The 380s is a great preamp and it has remote volume which is a really nice feature BUT there's something about that mid-90's Levinson/Madrigal gear that has never been surpassed sonically (except for the Cello gear produced at about the same time.) What I'm referring to "sonically" is the musical, almost tube-like quality of the sound, yet still retaining the sharpness and accuracy of SS. The 26 preamp and 23 amp were the first attempts. Then, for the 26s and 23.5 they went to teflon printed citcuit boards and a higher quality of board components. The results were absolute magic. Same for the phono preamp, the 25 versus the 25s. People still covet the 25s as one of the finest, quietest, high gain phono preamps ever made.

If you check out my system components, you'd think it would sound very bright, but it doesn't. It's alive, very accurate and revealing, but it's not hard or edgy. You can listen to it all day long without fatigue.

If you onlyheard a 380s/336, you'd be justifiably impressed -- but it can get better. What can I say? That mid-90's Levinson gear is like apartments in New York -- you practically have to wait for someone to die before it's available!