Mcintosh C-2200 or Aesthetix Calypso?


I know I want a tube preamp and have narrowed the field down to these two. Both are available at the same price. After reading what members have to say about the Calypso, it seems like the clear winner ...but....I like the tone controls on the Mcintosh. At 12 o clock position the tone controls are inactive and out of the signal path, but can be used as needed otherwise. (According to Mcintosh) I know tone controls are frowned upon, but I have owned preamps without them in the past and found it to be frustrating when I felt the need to compensate for a bad recording. Associated gear is Classe Seven Hundred mono's, B&W 800N, and a yet to be determined CDP. Thanks for your advice.
baffled

Showing 1 response by bunkeromantik

Hmm
I have to disagree with some of the posts. I had both C-46 and C2200 in my system and had enough time to compare. I would never agree they sound simillar. To my ears and VERY reaviling Thiel 2.3 speakers I find C 2200 to have much better sound. Suprisingly I had more bass fullness with C2200. It also did much better with highs sounding more open and vibrant. As no surprise it has rich organic sound you can NEVER find in C46. You can easily take 2200 to yet another level of performance by changing tubes to some premium NOS. I have a great luck with various 5751 subs. Stock tubes are noisy, premiun NOS tubes make it very quiet pre.
On the other hand Mac SS pre is sounding dull and greyish to me - no exitement at all.