I have been rebuilding a Mark Levinson 332 for the past month. Function wise it is in a good place, once again living among the esoteric. The exterior was beginning to show its age of 30 years.
The covers were originally a matte finish nickel color paint, as can be seen on the front bezel which I have not polished yet. The paint was yellowing a little and had some superficial scratches. I found a nice replacement paint to redo the covers and massive front bezel. I decided to start with the easy part first. I took off the top cover and let it sit in acetone for about 10 minutes. I expected a rough looking piece of metal. I gently brushed the loose paint off only to find a beautiful piece of very smooth aluminum. It had precision TIG welds in the corners that were not distinguishable to the naked eye.
Many years back I learned how well aluminum will take a shine if polished correctly. I did it on an old Cannondale street bike and it came out great. So with a lot of elbow grease, some polishing wad and some 3000 grit polishing compound I was able to get a gloss on the cover. What the heck I had nothing to lose and if I didn't like it I could still paint it. So now I think I may have the worlds first polished Mark Levinson, mimicking some of the classic DYNA and McIntosh frames I have seen. I think I can get the same sheen on the front bezel but that is going to take a lot of work as I believe that is a cast piece. The black insert in the bezel is removable.
I don't know why these photos show up skewed/squished but if you click on them they show up normally:
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Any opinions? Is it overkill? Is this blasphemy? Will the audio Gods be displeased 🙂
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The covers were originally a matte finish nickel color paint, as can be seen on the front bezel which I have not polished yet. The paint was yellowing a little and had some superficial scratches. I found a nice replacement paint to redo the covers and massive front bezel. I decided to start with the easy part first. I took off the top cover and let it sit in acetone for about 10 minutes. I expected a rough looking piece of metal. I gently brushed the loose paint off only to find a beautiful piece of very smooth aluminum. It had precision TIG welds in the corners that were not distinguishable to the naked eye.
Many years back I learned how well aluminum will take a shine if polished correctly. I did it on an old Cannondale street bike and it came out great. So with a lot of elbow grease, some polishing wad and some 3000 grit polishing compound I was able to get a gloss on the cover. What the heck I had nothing to lose and if I didn't like it I could still paint it. So now I think I may have the worlds first polished Mark Levinson, mimicking some of the classic DYNA and McIntosh frames I have seen. I think I can get the same sheen on the front bezel but that is going to take a lot of work as I believe that is a cast piece. The black insert in the bezel is removable.
I don't know why these photos show up skewed/squished but if you click on them they show up normally:
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Any opinions? Is it overkill? Is this blasphemy? Will the audio Gods be displeased 🙂
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I think it looks great and the only downside that I can see is resale value. You might want to take anything else to a good paint shop (automotive) and see if they can scan it for you to provide the RAL number so in the future they can be repainted back to original if you so choose.
Some people are anal about gear and would pass on a otherwise fine unit if it's not 100% original.
BillWojo
Some people are anal about gear and would pass on a otherwise fine unit if it's not 100% original.
BillWojo
I think this amp is one of those amps that will remain a keeper. I say that now but if two ML mono-blocks fall into my hands I would jump ship in a second 🙂
Guys that are really anal about this type of gear would probably frown on the fact that the replacement main caps are Cornell Dublier and not Phillips ( even though the large Philips caps have a notoriously high rate of failure ) or that some of the small electrolytics are Nichion instead of ROE.
The paint that was on this unit was aged and I am certain it had drifted from its original color. Probably from sun exposure or smoking. That would have made it difficult to get a good read from a body shop. Home Depot now sells a rattle can of matte nickel paint that I swear is really close to what it should be. That was the route I was going to take but the polished look is beginning to grow on me. The front bezel also had some nice scratches and dings in the paint and it needed to be sanded out anyway. I finished the front bezel now. I even treated the power switch which is also aluminum. I left the recessed accent strip on the power button in place.
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The metal polished well. You can see my polish stained hands in the reflection as well as my pants very clearly. Not exactly a perfect mirror but as close as you can get with aluminum. I will put up photos of the assembled amp once I am done.
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Wow! That looks pretty cool to me. The resale issue is a real one, but if you're planning to keep it, what the hell. Besides, you'd probably have to rough up all that nice work in order for those surfaces to take paint again, eh? 🙁
By the way, is it recommended to seal polished aluminum with some sort of clear coat?
By the way, is it recommended to seal polished aluminum with some sort of clear coat?
Thanks! Aluminum does not oxidize readily like steel or cooper. The Cannondale bicycle that I polished did not need a clear coat and it was in the elements all the time. I would occasionally wipe it down and if I really wanted to get a sparkly shine I would rub some "Mothers" cotton wad polishing compound on it. Granted the Cannondale uses top notch aircraft grade aluminum. I dont think the ML amp is skimping in the aluminum department so this finish should hold up really well.
Now that it is finished I don't think I would go back. Here is the finished product. If I am right there is only one of these in the world so maybe the resale value could go up instead of down 🙂
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Gorgeous!
I suppose I understand the attempt at understatement with the original nickel paint, but let's face it - there really isn't anything modest about this beast, heh. I'm no expert, but this to me seems closer to the way it's supposed to look.
Nice work.
I suppose I understand the attempt at understatement with the original nickel paint, but let's face it - there really isn't anything modest about this beast, heh. I'm no expert, but this to me seems closer to the way it's supposed to look.
Nice work.
Looks great! I use a good car wax to seal polished aluminum or it will go dull with time. I bet your arms are still tired.
BillWojo
BillWojo
It looks fantastic!
One might at first think a chromed or mirror finish would look too flashy, but actually the good reflectivity just, um, reflects what's nearby, and it blends into its surroundings.
One might at first think a chromed or mirror finish would look too flashy, but actually the good reflectivity just, um, reflects what's nearby, and it blends into its surroundings.
In the future you could try a minimal aggression paint polishing compound to break down aged discoloured surface colour weather it was caused by oxidation or a foreign residue left on the finish from cigarette smoke. It also has cleaning agents in it that make short work of removing nicotine staining when nothing else will, or its not purposed for cleaning paint and may alter the colour or cause damage. Paint polish will also level out fine scratches. In many cases it can make paint finishes look "new" again, or very close to it. Unless its very badly scratched/oxidized.
The Levinson looks great. I bet it sounds great too.
The Levinson looks great. I bet it sounds great too.
Go over it with a fine hand polishing paste from mothers. It removes any new oxidation thats already formed (even not visible youll see the soot coming off on the rag) and leaves a type of seal on metal to slow down new oxidation, and helps keep it clean and free of finger prints.
If you want to try that then a day or two later give it a quick go with armor all. I Discovered this by accident while maintaining my aluminum bike rims, over spray from dressing tires. even though its not intended for metal it sets the final polish off very nicely.
I happen to really like the look you've achieved. If these are for your personal use and not with resale in mind, then they should look like YOU want them to look and even more importantly, SOUND!
What WntrMute2 said. I love the look of polished aluminum over the hard glare of chrome plate any day. I could never stand the custom Harleys that chrome plated everything including the engine parts. Just to much. Polish that engine and use chrome for a few accent pieces. Paint where needed.
BillWojo
BillWojo
That looks frickin amazing! In a cabinet or lurking solo, that unit would grab the attention. Rubbernecking purist types would definitely be offended by the mod: it just don't look like it did no more. With the modern trend of every premium appliance being polished stainless, aluminum, or nickel finish, I believe you upgraded the look. If it were available from the manufacturer, that finish would cost extra. And it's not some shiny painted plastic finish, either.
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Agree with that. Looks like it was designed to be that way. I bet the M.L. guys would love it.
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