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  3. 185395-174247

McIntosh Output Autoformer, Sabrina X and Serge Gainsbourg

I’ve put a good deal of attention into room acoustics, components, sitting position and so on.  My assumption was that my Wilson/McIntosh dealer had setup my MA12000/Sabrina X properly.  That said, I did have the common sense to adjust my listening position and the above changes.  What I never checked was which of the Autoformer output terminals were being used.  The Sabrina X gets down to around 2.6 ohms at 135Hz, so I was a bit surprised to see that they used the 8 ohm terminals.  Moved over to the 4 ohm terminals and put on “Histoire De Melody Nelson”, which is a great voice in the room recording.  The live, in the room presence was amazing.  I can’t believe that I’ve been listening with such a handicap.  So much for the expert in home speaker setup.  Give the above album a listen.  Really nice recording released in 1971.

vonhelmholtz
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vonhelmholtz OP
911 posts
 

I assume that others have had dealers setup their systems and I just wanted to encourage them to recheck the dealers work.  I saw the speakers impedance curve prior to buying the speakers and should have been more proactive with regards to my amplifier speaker setup.

Secondly, I found that “Histoire De Melody Nelson” was an ideal album to allow me to hear improvements to my system.  I have always been drawn to vocals and appreciate the immense amount of information conveyed by the human voice.

ejr1953
914 posts
 

My speakers are rated at 8 ohms but the spec indicates the "minimum impedance" to be 3.1 ohms.  I tried the 8 ohm taps first and like you, found the speakers really came alive when I moved the wires to the 4 ohm taps.  My dealer thought that was fine and the amp runs "cool as a cucumber", no problems over the 7+ years I've owned them!

stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,384 posts
 

It is always best to try the various impedance taps on the amp. My speakers are rated at 4 ohms but sound much more dynamic on the 8 ohm taps. I would let the dealer know that it wasn’t set properly.

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