McIntosh Vintage Preamps

Great sounding early Mac SS pre amps? Have you already exhausted all the easy searches like finding the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot? The tube units may be collectable but from my long ago experience with a C8 that does not mean they sounded good. The circuit was far too complex. The 7C was the best early stereo preamp closely followed [or proceeded, according to some] by the PAS 3 Dynaco. For sound quality you would get far more for your money with a more recent unit from a good company. It would also not be nearly as likely to need repair or updating. If quality early SS is a must Accuphase or Lux made pre amps that were very well built and sounded better.

I'd agree with Stanwal and if you're going to stay with a McIntosh pre-amp, find a more recent C15 or C712. For a price range of around $800 or so, these are very nice sounding pre-amps for the money. Member Aball recommended these two and I've owned both over the years. Very nice sound.

agree with Daves choices. nice phono stage too.

agree, but if you really want, the C29 and C33 are the best from the "golden era" the C28 was the first to be considered, but it has some serious technical problems and parts are not readily available for these older units(C24,26,28)