Starting a McIntosh system

Hi,
I posted last year having been blown away by the sound of a C220 at local dealer - who has sadly ceased trading.
I'm looking to buy in the next month or so and just wanted some advice. I would be buying a tube amp for the first time. Although I understand nothing about streaming and "computer" music, I do want the functionality there as I guess things will only move more in this direction. I have been looking (on internet as there are so few dealers in Europe) at the C2300 and C2500. I’d be really grateful for any advice on:
- user experiences with the 2300 /2500 and how they compare. Also any alternatives - I listen at low volumes and important to me are tone controls (I absolutely love the idea of tone settings per input too) and built-in phono stage
- suggested power amps which go well with these 2 (I was told you can mix tube and solid state but am not sure how this affects sound)
- what is the best was to run 3 sets of speakers for different rooms. I spent a lot of money and aggravation fitting conduits under the floor and through the ceiling to feed speaker cable into 2 other rooms and want to take advantage. I currently run a Sansui 8080 receiver which has 3 speaker outputs. Some have suggested buying cheap power amps (Musical Fidelity M1 PWR for example) to save harming the quality of the sound in my main listening room with a speaker switch box
- I am looking to spend approx $15k; max $20k at the moment so realise I will not be able to buy all I want. Eventually, I want CD player, tuner (ideally to receive DAB and DAB+ in Europe) and the beautiful MT5 turntable plus speakers. I intend starting with the amps but please let me know if you disagree. I would have been happy with a tube integrated but understand Mc doesn't do such a thing.
- While I save more money, do you think Jamo E660 speakers would be ok to use (I know they won't do the system full justice)
- In the longer-term, I read Sonus Faber speakers partner well with Mc Intosh gear - any other suggestions?

Many thanks

Well tubes and SS go just fine together. I find tube sound is better with the power amp opposed to a preamp. Most people tube the pre so they can have more power that a SS power amp gives.

The two preamps your looking at are very nice but I like the C2300 better. I think there has been far to many issues with the DAC inside the 2500. The combo to have was/is the 2300 with the D100 for about the same price. The D100 is a digital preamp that can be pluged into any preamp to use it's DAC only. So unless you need tube you can also look at some of the SS preamps and other will chime in on those.

CD Player? I realy don't know why people still buy them. Plug your computer into the D100 and you can play CDs, rip them, stream whatever you want.

Power amps don't short yourself here, I like more power than the speakers need. If the speakers are rated @ 400w get an amp that is 400wpc+, plus they will preform better.

Speakers in other rooms? Mac makes their own selectors and I don't know much about them. If your looking at seperats like your stating in your post you do not get an A/B/C speaker selector switch. You do get an amp selector switch on most of their preamps.

Mac has integrated & Recievers you can look at if thats better for you. Most are also like your 8080 as they have pre outputs to drive other Power amps.

As a side note, When you switch over to Mac it will not be how much gear you can plug into it and stacking components. Your looking for sound quality buying mac gear. You start degrading SQ with inexpensive speaker cables run a 100 ft. around the house. You would be far better off putting together smaller systems for the rooms you want.

Mac made smaller intergrates and recivers for this and you can setup rooms for less than one of their power amps. You could put together your main system first, something like this.

Main
C2300,D100, MC402, Here in the states that would be about 12 grand and an awesome system that will drive most speakers.

Room 2
MX 110 and what ever speakers you have, about 1 grand

Room 3
An intergrated and what ever speakers you have, about 2500-3000 grand.

I find it far more important to have quality over quantity. Start with one main system in one room and then you'll see.

mx110 would require a power amp... and decent mx110s seem to start at around $1500 recently serviced.

cduarte said:

mx110 would require a power amp... and decent mx110s seem to start at around $1500 recently serviced.

Click to expand...

Yeah you know I ment to put a reciever in there like the 1400.

And they did make a 2275 tube integrated, just so you know. I think it is about half your budget though.

I would recommend an Autonomics Mirage MMS 5 which will allow you to stream music into 5 separate zones. You can rip your CDs into iTunes and it syncs with it. Or download files off the web which is what I now do. I would also recommend an MC207 amp which will give you independent control of your 3 sets of speakers. To save money you could go with the 8207 but you give up the blue meters to save $2000. You then have 2 extra zones plus a USB or SP/dif digital outs as well if you need them. This setup will set you back 10k but it's pretty slick.

I own a C2300 and it is a joy to use. Actually I'm in my second one - I should have never let the first one go.

The phono section is outstanding - the Moving Coil section is a hybrid solid state tube design. It is totally quiet. I have not heard the 2500, but people who have them are very satisfied with the sound.

There are a lot of options for amplifiers and it will depend on what you'd like. The McIntosh MC275 is a great tube amplifier. Very tuneful bass and just awesome on vocals. It does less well with massed choral works and big symphonic music. In their SS lineup the MC 452 is well loved. I have its big brother, MC601 mono blocks, and they are hugely powerful and dynamic. Either will drive your Diamond 7.1's, with the mc452 being able to go much louder of course.

Lots of vintage used options, don't personally know much about them.

For multi-room, why not just keep your 8080 and drive it from one of the C2300's outputs or the record loop?

The C2300 has 3 main outputs. You can turn two of them on and off from the front panel and the remote. You can also have them control power to other amps. For example you could hook your main amp to #1, and your Sansui to #2. You could buy a remote power switch for the Sansui that is triggered by the C2300's control output #2. Then, when you wanted to listen in other rooms you would select output #2 and your Sansui would power up.

McIntosh also has some speaker selectors in their line up, that would be an option if you could find one used, but if you keep the Sansui you would also have a separate volume control for your other rooms, which would be nice.


Hope this helps.

Tom

I will throw another vote in for the C2300, though if I was starting new I would look strongly at the C2500. Some great advice in here already about the amps, so I'll skip that.

When the time comes, if you still want to stay all McIntosh, one of the best values for a CDP is using one of their DVD players in the MVP lineup. Excellent performance and often picked up for relatively cheap on the used market.

I had a c2200 and now after going to C2200+D100 I went for a C2500 which I love (just stay away from USB streaming).
The C2500 sounds much much better than the c2200 (more details). I can't tell for the C2300.
I have a MC402 when I want to dust off my speakers :yes: but I just went back to the tube family with a MC225 currently been redone by Audioclassics.

Why? Because I had a vintage MC240 and I loved the sound. I traded in for a new MC275 which was a disappointment for me. Then I went full power SS with a MC402 and no doubt this amp will do very well.

However the SS sound is not as sweet as a vintage McInstosh tube so I would advise you to get a MC402 for loud playing in one of your system, and a vintage tube for the quality in another room.
BTW you can drive multiple amps from the C2500 (main, 1 and 2) so for now you can do that.
An integrated also is a good choice for your third room, I had a MA6900 and MA6600 and was equally happy with them. Great all in one device and not too $$.

I hope it helps,

Brice.

1) Find a C220 (the one you liked in the first place). It's really the tube pre that makes all the difference. The tubed pre generates the signal before the amp, so in reality and in common sense this is what colors the sound.
2) Find some sort of Mc SS Amp. Mc tube amps lack in bass and depth for me.
3) Vandersteen 2ces are an excellent modern-type speaker for Mc
4) Buy a Rega CD Player. I still enjoy all my CDs. I have a tremendous library. Rega makes an excellent player. I use my Rega now more than my MS300 Music Server
5) Buy a DAC for the Rega IF you really need it. Probably won't.

You're done.