How good is the McIntosh MC-2300 vs modern SS amplifiers?
Diablo reviews That’s the baby integrated, my friend has the Antillion into the Wilson Alexia II’s I’s before that. https://gryphon-audio.dk/shop/power-amplifiers/antileon-evo-mono/ Cheers George |
How about an OTL that can drive a wide variety of speakers properly?No such thing, unless you stick an autoformer band-aid on it for the hard to drive ones. Then you ruined the whole advantage of the OTL design and what it can do. Your better off getting one of your amps to do the job if you wish to stick with tubes, or putting a proper output transformer on the OTL, again a backward step to what an unhindered OTL is capable of giving with the right speaker. Cheers George |
If the right amp has to be found for just some one speaker, I would say that is a bad amplifier waiting to find a home.So what your saying is an amp that can drive the Wilson Alexia’s known impedance of down to 0.9ohm is a bad amp????? No you’ve got that arse about face, the speaker is the problem being too hard to drive and the amp that can do it is a great amp, and will not only drive it but anything else as well. Definitely not a bad amplifier waiting to find a home. Cheers George |
If I were to make SS amps I would like likely use autoformers because: Judging by this statement, as I know your no fool, and that you have never A/B’d a highly rated solid state amp that’s happy driving into a speaker considered to be a hard load, then place the "said" best autoformers in to see what they do. You will be surprised at just how much the sound degrades. Granted autoformers have their place with amps that cannot drive certain loads, but I say save the money and get the right amp instead, you’ll be far better off. If you have an OTL amplifier you should know that the power is greatly reduced into low impedance loads. Even worse is that low impedance loads will overheat the tubes at high power levels as most of the power supply voltage is being dropped across the tube not the load. So low impedance loads are hard on the tubes and cause higher distortortion All of these ills can be solved by the use of a proper Autoformer.OTL’s are the best sounding tube amps there are ( even maybe solid state also) if they are used withing their comfort zone driving speakers that have easy loads they like, as with the highly rated solid state amp above, that changes very much so once you introduce an autoformer, into the same system, I doubt that Ralph would use autoformers if there was no need to. It all comes back to the right amp for the right job, if not an autoformer can be a "band-aid" or "interim" fix, but an expensive one. Cheers George |
They were probably good in their day, Roger, but so were many others. But you would have them today as your main amp I think not. A solid state amp that has trouble driving a certain speaker load, can be helped with the use of an autoformer, I say save your money and get the right amp instead. All you have to do to prove it to yourself, is put a pair of Autoformers on ANY decent solid state amp that can drive hard loads, and hear what it does to the sound compared to when used without them, even on easy loads. All this fishing Roger, sounds to me like you may be ready to venture into solid state using output transformers? https://d2gg9evh47fn9z.cloudfront.net/800px_COLOURBOX29710931.jpg Cheers George |
You must a another Mac on the way as your "nesting" again! http://www.theloop.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/emoji-4.jpg Cheers George |
I think the Grateful Dead liked HDCD as nearly every album they did was HDCD. https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Grateful+Dead+HDCD&_sacat=0&_ipg=200 Cheers George |
Did it really sound that bad?Yeah, to give a visual comparison, it was like looking through frosted glass. I remember sound from that era well, SS either tore your head off with sibilance usually from the US, or so truncated the opposite, usually from the UK, it sounded like a thick Blancmange. No wonder tube were the preferred choice by all. Owsley wanted the Dead not only to be clearly heard but also in stereoBut this counters that if you look at the writing above each unit stack, as the same muso/instrument was in both left and right, giving basically a mono wall of sound. https://marketingtowin.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/dead-soundii.jpg Cheers George |
John Curl gave a most informative talk on the Wall Of Sound used by the Gratefful Dead. He had a lot to do with the speaker end of things but had not much to say about the amplifiers which left me curious about them.I think JC was being diplomatic in his silence, he knows. As it was in a way McIntosh sponsored after all. There were 15 x MC-2300's in this link. http://www.dozin.com/wallofsound/ However this is a fine amplifier, virtually bullet proof, and used in great numbers by a band known for its incredible sound.That maybe Roger back in the day, and yes any amp with an output transformer is far more immune to a degree against fools doing the wrong or stupid things like shorting out (than a direct transistor output), but have a listen to one today compared to what's around, then give your opinion on how it sounds. I heard one not 2 months ago compared to a Gryphon on Wilson's, let me say there was no comparison. One sounded like a thick blanket was thrown over the Wilson's compared to the other, you'll know which when you've had a listen to one. Roadies tend to blow amps more than anyone I know, so yes the SS Mac's with output transformers would be up for more abuse, if the band could get tubes to do the job because of the watts needed, and the reliability factor. Can you imagine the amount of tubes needed to give the watts that 15 of those Mac's could give. Cheers George |
