McIntosh C1100 Preamp

I just noticed your question. I have a C1100 going into my MC601s. I absolutely love it and would suggest it for anyone that has the space for the 2 boxes and wants to spend that amount on a preamp. It replaced my C2300. I agree with everything you said except for the phono stage. I like the C1100 phono stage but I still prefer my Audia Flight SS dedicated phono stage. I didn't use the phono stage on my C2300 either. My Audia Flight phono stage did cost more than my C2300 though.

Sorry you had a problem with you Audia Flight phono. So far so good for me - keeping my fingers crossed. That is a problem with more exotic equipment and the reason most of my components are McIntosh. Now that I have 100's of hours on my C1100 I'll have to give it another try for its phono stage. I used to roll various tubes with my C2300 but I am reluctant to do this with the C1100 since it is so dead quiet and don't want to mess up a good thing. 

Greg, I switched my VPI Classic 3 w/ Lyra Kleos cart over to the C1100 MC phono stage and gave it another try now that it has 100's of hours on it. My wife and I switched back and forth between the C1100 and the Audia Flight but it was immediately obvious to us that we both preferred the Audia Flight by a considerable margin. For me the C1100 sounds very good but with a direct  comparison the Audia Flight sounded more musical to me. I thought voices sounded more resonate and detailed, there was a wider soundstage and instruments were not overshadowed by vocals. So my conclusion is that I will continue to use the Audio Flight until something happens to it - hopefully not.

If I hadn't done a direct comparison I am sure I would have been very happy with only the C1100 and I do love the sound of the AF going into the tube line stage of the C1100 with balanced cables. I also went a little tweek crazy this past year with Stillpoints under most everything - even under and between both of the C1100 boxes and upgraded cables everywhere. I have everything in a dedicated 2 channel room and that made a big difference also.