ML 502 Media Console

[Gary16]

Originally Posted by deacongreg

At this price, there should be no issues. Give me an Anthem, and lets call it a day. Easy to operate, use, functional, and sounds great!! I`m not into tweaking, I want to enjoy my music.

There are no real "issues" with the 502. I don't know of any product at any price that doesn't have some minor problems that show up in the first units. Look at all the Blu-ray players including the Denon 3800. Or many of the plasma and LCD flat panels. The problems that develop do not take away from the excellence of the product overall. Early adopters are used to this. The Levinson people have been more than responsive and have taken care of any problems quickly. As has Denon with their 3800. The bottom line is that these are top of the line products that deliver what they are supposed to.

[pfslai]

If it's firmware issue I can understand. Ribbon breaking off because it's too tight??? Also a year or so ago one of their new preamps being reviewed by stereophile had a volume control knob issue...this also happened to my several years old 380 volume control knob too.

[Gary16]

Originally Posted by pfslai

If it's firmware issue I can understand. Ribbon breaking off because it's too tight??? Also a year or so ago one of their new preamps being reviewed by stereophile had a volume control knob issue...this also happened to my several years old 380 volume control knob too.

The ribbon issue is admittedly a strange one. My 502 was shipped twice by UPS -- once to the dealer and then to me -- and arrived with the outer box slightly crushed and with a hole on one side and yet my unit was perfect -- no broken ribbons. How did two other 502's suffer a different fate? I don't know but it would seem not to be a design flaw or else mine certainly would have suffered the same breakage. Seems like the other units were handled extremely carelessly by the delivery people.

[Lefisc]

First thanks for all your help. If there is any issue here is that there instruction booklet should be written better.

First, there is an easy solution to the blackout Audio controls. THE CURRENT INPUT must be something that lines up with what you want to adjust.

When I was listing with the unit set to “2 Channel” sound, the audio adjustments in 5.1 and 7.2 were grayed out. You have to switch to a 5.1 (or a 7.2) input for those to come up. It took some time but I figured that out.

But this new batch also got the first software update for the machine

Having first the No. 40 and switching to this is a bit like having Windows 98 and switching to XP. That is, they changed the name of a function and where it is, but it is kind of the same function, got you have to look for it.

It is certainly better sounding that the 40, with a lot more options. Again, the instruction booklet is a bit wrong. For example, it give you a “quick” way to start out and set up a DVD player input. But, at least on mine, some of the default video settings are not correct. They should have referred you to this section or shipped the unit with those settings.

I am also comparing it to my 30.6. I have a 31.5 transport and a 30.6 d/a. As far as I can now judge, and I have not had the new unit warmed up yet, it is at least as good as the 30.6 and I think a bit better. This would be great. Making the system simpler would be better.

(A final note on the No 40: The 40 was supposed to hook and link with the 30.6/31.5/32, but it failed miserably at it. I also noticed that although the combination was supposed to use the 30.6 for all left and right functions there was a degrading of sound. That is a 30.6/31.5/32 combination sounded better than a No 40 30.6/31.5/32 combination.)

[adidadi]

Do you think the 502 sounds better then anything else out there? I got one in and am very impressed. Wondering if the Anthem D2v will stand up to it sonically in 2 channel and surround. Any comparisons?

[Captain Stereo]

Originally Posted by adidadi

Do you think the 502 sounds better then anything else out there? I got one in and am very impressed. Wondering if the Anthem D2v will stand up to it sonically in 2 channel and surround. Any comparisons?

The $8,000 Classe SSP-800 blows it away. Not even close. Did a direct comparison in the same system. Had a customer return his D2 to get a Classe because the Classe sounds so much better (he concurs after having it in his system). The Classe was intended to be released at around $11,000 retail, but they made a strategic decision to release it at $8,000 to make it more price competitive with the D2s of the world. If you're a spec hunter and feature guy, get the D2. If it needs to be really really expensive to make you feel it's truly high end, get the 502. If you want the best sounding surround processor in the world, get the SSP-800 and with your saved money, get real cables and power conditioning.