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  1. #1
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    Mark Levinson 380S Preamp

    I use this preamp which drives a Audio Research D400MKII
    power amplifier for adjusting the levels of my Magneplanar
    Tympani bass panels. The volume control has extremely
    fine volume adjustments of . 1db. and one can obtain an
    excellent balance. The output impedance is under 6 ohms
    and can easilly drive several power amplifiers. Having
    balanced inputs and outputs is also a big plus giving one
    a great signal to noise ratio (dead silent). Having a
    rotary subwoofer with bass down to 1 hz requires a preamp
    with very low frequency response and the Mark Levinson
    meets this requirement.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Mark Levinson 380S Preamp-img_1052.jpg  

  2. #2
    Man of the People Forums Moderator bobsticks's Avatar
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    I'm not familiar with that particular model but I am familiar with that "medium laid back" Levinson house sound. From a system-matching perspective one can only imagine how glorious an ARC, Levinson, Maggie, ML combo would be. Any analog in the mix?
    So, I broke into the palace
    With a sponge and a rusty spanner
    She said : "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
    I said : "That's nothing - you should hear me play piano"

  3. #3
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    Analog source

    Quote Originally Posted by bobsticks
    I'm not familiar with that particular model but I am familiar with that "medium laid back" Levinson house sound. From a system-matching perspective one can only imagine how glorious an ARC, Levinson, Maggie, ML combo would be. Any analog in the mix?
    I have an Oracle turntable, but don't use it any more. There are a number
    of reasons that I do not like records, despite what some of the experts
    say about analog playback. Under the best conditions, analog does
    have qualities that most digital playback systems lack. My opinion
    is that high resolution digital playback is as good or better than analog.
    I use PS Audio's Perfectwave Dac, transport and with Reference
    Recordings HRx wave files, the sound is about as good as it gets. Most
    of Reference Recordings utilizing HDCD are also superior in some
    ways than analog. First off is the complete absence of any noise
    (no ticks, pops, etc.) Next is dynamic range which is awesome, with superior
    bass and extremely low in distortion. One area that I am very sensitive to
    is pitch, which the Perfectwave system absolutely trounces analog. One
    never listens to the rotating disc anymore with this system as it takes all
    the digital information and puts this into a solid state memory. One now
    listens with the accuracy of a crystal clock and pitch is spot on. PS Audio's
    Perfectwave system captures all the ambience, detail, and most
    important the spacial qualities of the recordings. Also the background
    is totally silent because once again there is absolutely no noise added
    to the recorded sound. The system also has quite a few different
    filters to adjust for different recordings, which is quite useful. Standard cd's
    sound very good as well with this system. So, this is my opinion, but
    once one hears what the PS Audio Perfectwave Dac and transport can
    achieve, there is no going back to analog.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Mark Levinson 380S Preamp-img_0960.jpg   Mark Levinson 380S Preamp-img_0961.jpg  

  4. #4
    Forum Regular harley .guy07's Avatar
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    Yeah my Nuforce Preamp has .5 db adjustments which are very nice for getting just the right volume so I know what you are talking about and it has a quick way of stepping the volume up as well so you don't have to set there and slowly turn the volume up until its right. But I do like a smaller DB volume attenuator.

    Marantz SR5008(HT)
    Nu Force P8 Preamp (2 channel)
    Pass Labs X150.5(2 channel)
    Adcom 545 mk2 power amp(rear channel amp)
    Spatial Audio M3 Turbo S Mains Speakers
    Dayton 8" HO custom sealed subwoofer(2 channel)
    Yamaha NS-c444 center channel
    Emotiva ERD-1 surround speakers
    JBL e250p subwoofer highly modified
    Samsung 46" LED TV
    OPPO BDP-83 blue ray/multi format player
    ps-audio NuWave dac (2 channel)
    Dell I660 music server running fidelizer windows 8 audio optimizer
    PS Audio Quintet power center



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