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At the top of the amplifier line is the rack-mountable $6,250 Mark Levinson No. 436 monoblock. Packing almost 400 watts of power from its mono four-rack-space-high chassis, the No. 436 can be configured for stereo or audiophile systems on full display on the floor, or neatly set up in a custom install rack as a pair, a trio, a five-channel system or, for total extremists, a seven-channel configuration. A lot of the technology from the Class A Mark Levinson No. 33 amplifiers trickled down to these Class AB power amplifiers, as they now sit atop the Mark Levinson lineup of amplifiers. Thankfully (and unlike No. 33s), the No. 436 amps can be stored reasonably in an equipment rack.

Sonically, the Mark Levinson No. 436 is pure, well, Levinson. Powerful and fast, never loosey-goosey with control, these amplifiers have a death grip on your speakers that can make even demanding impedance loads from offbeat audiophile speakers perform wonderfully when playing the most extreme music and/or film soundtracks. The highs on the Mark Levinson No. 436 are open and pleasantly quiet. I wouldn't describe them as sweet in the manner of what you'd hear from a comparable a tube amp, but they don't suffer from the same coloration you will experience when listening to tubes. Without question, a pair of Mark Levinson No. 436s would reproduce a wider range of music more faithfully than other, more esoteric audiophile amps. On the low end, the Mark Levinson No. 436s are at their best providing quick and decisive power. Whether it is for a pair of MartinLogan Summits or Wilson WATT Puppy Version 8s or even Harman's own Revel Salon2s, the bass is taut and accurate. It's that sports car suspension feel and sound that Mark Levinson enthusiasts love.

Read about the high points and the low points of the No. 436 on Page 2.