Mark Levinson No 536

Harman International is a global audio company that owns many of the top brands in both home and professional audio. Those brands include JBL, Revel, Arcam, Mark Levinson,  Marantz, Denon, B&W and many others. It was founded by Sidney Harman, an early audio pioneer. He sold the company
In the early 1970s to corporate conglomerate Beatrice Foods. Years later he repurchased his namesake company from Beatrice Foods.
Wikipedia reports that Sidney Harman at the time stated “There are two ways to get rich.
One is to sell your company to Beatrice Foods. The other is to buy it back from them.”

Sidney Harman invested heavily in research and development. He had two passions in particular. One was to manufacture the best speaker available. (He owned the speaker manufacturing and engineering resources to accomplish this goal. JBL. He also invested substantial financial resources in the enterprise.). The end result was the Revel line of speakers and in particular the Revel Salon 2.
His second passion was to reconstitute Mark Levinson electronics. To accomplish this he assembled a twelve person team of engineers at Harman’s Engineering Center in Shelton, Connecticut. The design objective was to built state of the art components. The 500 series components. The one of the first components was the Mark Levinson 526 preamp. The balance of the 500 series components were the 523 preamp. The 585 and 585.5 integrated amps. The 534 amp and the 536 dual mono amps. The 519 CD/preamp and the 515 turntable built in conjunction with VIP turntables.
I have all these 500 series components in stock. They are factory sealed. They are sold with full manufacturer warranty.
To manufacture the 500 series of Mark Levinson components Sidney Harman chose nearby Mack Technologies in Westbury Massachusetts. Besides having state-of-the-art-tools and computer driven machines for metalworking, surface mounting of individual components, wave soldering, and assembling printed circuit boards; Mack Technologies can track every circuit board they make, and organize the information into an easily retrievable database for service and quality control. Mack Technologies is a global provider of complex electronic manufacturing services. They specialize in customers that need stringent quality and reliability. Customers, for example in the healthcare industry to manufacture medical devices. Military. Aviation and aerospace industries. NASA.
Mark Levinson was the only audio company  to ever utilize their facilities. Sydney Harman wanted the best. His was not purely a cost driven choice. He wanted the best.
The high build quality of 500 series components is immediately evident in the enclosures of the 500 series. They are made of 6000-series aircraft grade aluminum. Built for a lifetime is not just a phrase.


Stereophile 536 review June 2017

Larry Greenhill
Reference Speakers
Revel Ultima Salon 2s

“The 536 sound quality was immediately evident. They woke up my Revel Salon2s delivering an aural palette startling in its transparency and clarity, with an expanded ability to reproduce dynamic contrasts.
First impressions count. I soon adopted the 536 monoblocks as my go-to amplifiers for the next nine months’ worth of reviewing. Driven by the 536es both my Quad ESL-63 and ELS-989 electrostatic speakers sounded more open and dynamic.  I experienced unusually well-defined bass and sweeter, more open highs.
The 536 monoblocks exerted a superior grip on the Salon2s woofers creating a powerfully deep, yet well-controlled and well-damped deep base response.
My Salon2s midrange blossomed when driven by the 536es. Whether the volume was low or high it was easy to hear differences in tone and timbre in male voices, piano, and percussion.
Conclusion:
“Does the 536 have any drawbacks?  
Ruggedness, high output and class AB operation means that an amp must be big and heavy. It takes two people for unpacking.
Harman has succeeded with the new Mark Levinson 500 series component line. Harman has built a cutting edge engineering team. They have released a slew of high end products. Among them is this supper rugged, expensive amplifier. It has exceptional sound quality. Nine months after I began listening to it, its soundstage, imaging, speed, and wide-ranging dynamic contrasts remain spellbinding. It is equaled by only one or two other amplifiers in memory.
The 536 is definitely worth my strong recommendation that it be included in Class A of Stereophile’s Recommended Components.”

Brand New Factory Sealed.
5 year Warranty
Retails $39,000 pair.  Make Offer

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For questions, to make an offer on an item, or to arrange for in-store pickup at our Eugene, Oregon location, please email Don at [email protected] or call/text (458) 261-9988.  Phone call is the preferred method of contact.