Is this a real upgrade?

Horns CAN image.

I have a friend that has a moderate "mid-fi" system ( receiver, large bookshelf's, CD player ) that he purchased from a reputable local dealer. Like most people that buy a "stereo", he dismissed the "tips and tricks" about proper set-up that a good salesperson always tries to explain. As such, his system was set-up in a manner that most audiophiles find "appalling".

He came over to visit on one occasion, so i took the opportunity to use him as an "acoustic guinea pig". I had just got done doing some work on one of my systems, so i told him to have a seat and close his eyes. I asked that he listen to the entire song and then tell me what he heard after it was over. I put on a very specific disc and song and he began to listen. When the tune was over, the first words out of his mouth were "how did you do that". Of course, i asked "how did i do WHAT ?" He said, "make the bell float across the middle of the room step by step. It seemed like the bell was literally hanging in the air in front of us. I have never heard anything like that come out of a stereo before".

What he was referring to was very precise imaging and placement within the soundstage. Not only did the "bell" walk from one side to the other with perfect center fill, it held a consistent height above the floor, a consistent distance between the speakers and our seated listening position and was extremely pinpoint in terms of where it rang at within the soundstage as it travelled from left to right. I went on to explain to him that any stereo could do that ( or something close ) if it was set up properly.

The speakers in question ? Highly modified Klipsch Heresy's. The "work" that i had just got done doing to that system ? Modifying the speakers. Sean
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I agree with Sdcampbell. I owned Klipsch speakers for quite some time and then I started getting interested in more Jazz. It seemed that no matter what I used the Klipsch sounded about the same. Bring home a demo pair of Vienna Acoustics Bach's or something like that from Tweeter if you have one close by. The Klipsch do not image or have a soundstage anything like Vienna's and the likes.
Good luck
Tim

Once upon a time, admittedly some years ago, I sold McIntosh stereo equipment. Their quality of McIntosh gear was very high then, and if anything is perhaps a bit better know. Without actually hearing the 2205/6100 combo vs. the 6100 alone, it's really hard to know if there will be an improvement in the sound. There might be an improvement if you were using really inefficient speakers, but the Klipsch Fortes do not need a lot of power to drive them. Hence, I am inclined to doubt that you will hear much difference by moving to the 2205 as your power amp.

I also sold Klipsch speakers in the early 1990's, and am very familiar with the Fortes. To be honest, if you want to improve the sound of your system, I recommend you upgrade your speakers before doing anything about your amplification chain. The Mac 6100 is a very good unit, and I doubt you are hearing it to the best advantage with the Forte speakers.