2. cables
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Mcintosh and Shunyata Research/Cardas

Okay, so I got some Mcintosh gear recently: C2600 and MCT450 (and I will probably get the MC452 in a few months)

I am running a Shunyata Research Hydra 8 Power conditioner.

 

I wanted to get thoughts from the community, especially those who own a similar setup two questions:

 

1) Does it make sense to use a power conditioner with Mcintosh gear, or should I run directly from the wall and

 

2) Do Cardas Golden Reference, or Shunyata Research cables (particularly the Anaconda Helix Alpha) work well with this setup/mcintosh setups.  

 

I heard mixed things about the Cardas with Mcintosh gear, and have not been able to get a good answer from Shunyata.


Mcintosh of course claims I should use the provided cable and not bother with aftermarket cables, if there really is no or minimal difference I may go that way, but I wanted check before doing anything rash.


Thanks in advance.


mepstein10

Showing 1 response by effischer

effischer
568 posts
 
The C2600 is indeed a sweet rig - adding a DAC to one of the best phono sections out there was a great move on their part.

I run a Cardas Golden Reference 1.5 meter phono cable from my Sota/Graham/DV rig to my current C50 and to my C2300 before that.  I think it sounds marvelous.  My I/Cs are an assortment of balanced and RCA (very short Audio Classics CD to C50 XLR and very long XLR main C50 to MC302 outputs from a maker I don't remember, Vampire Wire silver RCAs from my pre/pro to the C50 pass-thru and some older Monster Cable RCAs from my Tandberg deck to the C50).  Can't speak to the Shunyata cables.

After speaking with several different dealers, friends and reading a ton of posts here, I decided to run my amp directly off the mains but isolate all the line level stuff through an Ultrapower conditioner/surge protector.  I use the standard Mc power cords with everything.  So far, it's all working like a charm.

Hope this helps - good luck and happy listening!
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