McIntosh MC611 vs Parasound JC5

@toothdoc

I had the JC5 amp for a while and while it was super powerful and had authoritative bass, my cherished midrange seemed to be lost in the mix compared to my reference Pass Labs XA25.  

Fast forward to my current, final amplifier the McIntosh MC312 a newer Mac with 300 conservative watts / channel.  

The Mac loses just a touch of the JC5s bass authority but it is still substantial.  Treble is a positive and is very clean, sweet and grain free.  Surprisingly the midrange is the star of this Mac's show, soaring, separated and blooming.  I cannot tell you how much I love this amplifier.

If you value midrange like I do, the MC611 monos would get my vote, especially with the synergy of your B&W speakers which could use a little midrange presence.  The JC5 seems like it would have less than ideal synergy with your speakers.  

I had the A21 amp and it did add some chestiness to Leonard Cohen's voice. ffw several components and the mc611's are driving a pair of KEF Blades. As always I have to recommend getting a demo with the intended speakers, but I'm into my 3rd year with this system and still can't imagine replacing anything that could make an improvement.

@toothdoc So what did you end up doing?

I ask because I just bought a second JC5, so I'm biamping with 2 of them and am extremely happy with that decision.  

I previously ran 1 JC5 and 1 A21.  The issue I had was dialing in the gain levels between the amps so they were ideal. With 2 identical amps, you remove that requirement and can just set all gains the same and forget about it.  

I purchased two JC1+ mono blocks.   Very happy with the sound quality.  I would like to thank all who responded.   I have also upgraded to the PS Audio AirLens streamer and Denafrips Venus 15th DAC.  To me it sounds amazing and a end game system for me.  It has been a fun journey.