McIntosh vs Classe Multichannel System

Well since my last posting I finnaly opted to go with the MC207 and MX119. It was hard not to lean towards the Classe CA5200 and SSP600. I want to correct a mistake i made about the speakers.I use B&W Matrix 802's and not the nautilus 802's.The Classe equipment sounde great but I have heard they are having trouble with some of their units. Both were auditioned on B&W diamond 202's. All i can say is that the minute i got home and played an SACD disc on my new sound system, was it seem to say welcome home. My B&W's have never sounded better

Im in the same perdiciment you find yourself in. Ive heard the Classe CA5200 and the Classe SSP600 along with the BMW 802 diamond speakers the sound is superb together.Before the advent of Home Theather systems i was a Mac user and never regretted a moment i used them, but thinking i would try soemthing elese for my new Home Theather system i went with Lexicon Mc1 and the 200w Sunfire amp.Although the music was very clean and nice it didnt afford me the sound of my old Mac system.To be honest with you i havent heard the MC207 amp nor the MX135 A/V but knowing Mac and what ive beehn reading its a great match. The reason im leaning towrads Mac is that i dont want to make the same mistake again and wish i had stayed with Mac. The Classe CA5200 & the SSP600 are a very tempting alturnitiven I now have BMW's 802 nautilus which i love the surrounds are also BMW's. I also have a great collection of LP's which the Mac MX135 has a seperate stereo connection for my turn table.

I personally went with the MVP851 over the 861 because the 851 upsamples on the CD end whereas the 861 does not. Unless you listen to a lot of SACDs, I would go with the 851.

I ended up getting the MX-119 to go along with my MC207 and they are powering my VA Acoustics Mahler speakers. What a great combo! I am in audio heaven!

Yes, from what my dealer tells me, the MC207 is totally different from the previous 5-channel Mc amps.

The differences between the MC207 and the MC206 are much more significant that just the additional 100W. The MC207 really tests out much closer to 300W and has a much different design. (I just bought a MC207 and did a ton of research and before upgrading from my wonderful MC7205.)

Bulldogger, that is a nice and knowledgeable comparison, and greatly appreciated. Tim, that's a dream setup! What speakers are you using and what are their sensitivities and impedences? I have B&W Matrix 801s which seem to sound better and better with more power. I am planning to use them for the front. I believe the difference between 206 and 207 is 100w.ch vs 200w/ch (along with price jump of $2000).

I can only vow for the McIntosh system. My setup is MC206 and MX135 w/ the 851 MVP. Musicwise, it's second to none, moviewise, this pre/pro really make the center channel sings. Good luck, tim

That's going to be about a draw. Both companies do analog well. Classe's new pre/pros aren't yet released for a direct comparison. Mcintosh MX135 is a more advanced technically than the Classe SSP300. It has 24/192 dacs vs the 24/96 in the Classe SSP300. Also the analog to digital to converter is 24/192 and the Classe is not. Another consideration is the power supply. The Classe has a digital supply which will make it run cooler but is sometimes a sonic liability. If you look at the specs for the Classe SSP600 you will see that it has a hybrid analog/digtal power supply which is almost an admission that a purely digital power supply as they are implementing it in the SSP300 is not as good. The MX135 is based largely upon the C-45 multi-channel pre-amp that was a runner-up for Stereophile pre/amp of the year.Lastly the MX135 is running that new Motorola Aerius chip which is going at 1.2 billion instructions per second. I think that give it the the most powerful dsp chip of any pre/pro currently on the market. I've heard the Classe Delta two channel pre-amp and it is a solid performer. If the pre/pros deliver anything like it, they will be great performers. Classe keeps pushing the delivery time of it's new SSP's back I don't own either processor but have investigated both.