Does anybody know...

A UK hifi dealer offering 0% over 2years or more on Mark Levinson kit???

I'm after a 390S CD player but used values arent really low enough to make a 2nd hand purchace worthwhile.

Thanks.

Pete.

 

Try Here.......

http://www.hifi-stereo.com/

 

Why do you want one?

 

Why not?

 

I want one because it blew me away while demo-ing it at Heatherdale while picking up my Levinson power amp.

Also because I don't want to use a pre and I want something with a digital input as I use my fronts for music and film.

And because I can!

 

The demo of one blew me away too, but the extended home demo turned me off one. You win some, you lose some.

If you like the ML sound then cool, it will match your power really well and they are built like a tank. Can you get a non S model second hand, try it out and then get it modded to the next level, might save a bit on the finance front?

What else have you heard?

 

There's someone over on AudioAsylum who had a 390S as his main source...then he heard a Chord DAC64 and now he just uses the 390S as a transport...which I'm sure it's not bad at

Michael.

 

That's the best reason that you've given And I can't argue with it. I've argued more or less the same thing here

It's a nice toy, that's for sure; technically it is inferior to the benchmarkmedia DAC1; but it is prettier

Well, be aware that it's digital input truncates rather than redithers its input - which is a serious technical blunder.

When I had my 390S I tried what you're attempting. It's rather painful - the only AV processor I know of, which is a reasonable price, and has digital output is the Merdian 561. However, it presents you with a level matching problem - the digital output of the Meridian is not subject to digital volume control, so in order to set the volume level of all the speakers, you have to set the volume on the 390S and the meridian, and get them to "track".

The other alternative, is to take the ANALOG output of an AV processor and buy an analog to digital converter, to create the digital input to the 390S. Unless you understand your gain structure you can easily loose 4/5 bits of resolution...

In summary, it's a mess to get the volume of all the LR+AV speakers to match...

 

Thats my plan, I'll be using an ADC from my processor.

To be honest my AV kit is pretty poor [Yamaha A5 and PS2 as a DVD source] so I'm not overly bothered if I do loose a little quality.

It'll probably even out the perfomance difference between my Wilson Benesch front end and my Mission center and Wharfdale flatpanel rears!

What I want is high end 2 channel with built in volume and the 390s will provide that in spades!

Tried the 861se and it wasnt as good straight into a power amp, though on a par via a Levinson 32 pre.

Also considered a new Meridian ref but its a wee bit too expensive for me.

 

Then you'll be delighted. The 390S is a very nice unit.

One thing though, and this wasn't an issue for me, is that the elegant tray might not like Dual Discs - these are ever so slightly thicker than CD's and might causes some problems.. I think Levinson has a warning on their site.