New McIntosh C22 - Upgrade Transparent Balanced Musiclink Plus

Your speaker cables from Transparent will come biased at the factory based on what your amplifier is.

@woots not the Plus level wires. Transparent doesn’t bias or tweak until Reference level.

To the OP… there have been significant upgrades to the transparent line of the 20 years you’ve had yours. I would suggest try your current cables and see what you think. No reason to change them if they make you happy, unless of course you just want to start from new. The bigger question is what speakers are you using, and are they also 20yr old? That may make a much bigger difference with your new setup.

Thx for the feedback.  I am using B&W 804 D3.  I have a Linn LP12 and a Blue Sound for streaming.  

C22 is a valve unit. The "MAINS" swap that pair for a pair of Telefunken (certed BP) and get a pair of PSVANE Art Series valves..

The cables, leave all that stuff, Transparent has had more upgrades than MIT and they are both bettered by 200.00 cables now.. Weaves or Ribbons will tear them UP.. OCC copper weave 3 meters with silver or copper ends under 200.00 usd Ribbon OCC/Silver clad under 200.00. Buy the valves and cables for 350.00 total plug and play for 50 hours and be totally amazed.

All that money you save, tune the room 

You'll be miles ahead.

Regards

@geof3 

Thanks for the update.  I didn't realize that.

Can you please explain what a “valve” unit is?  I am assuming you are referring to replacing the tubes?

Tubes OP. I've been a Mac guy for 50 years. C22 is a very nice piece. If you're going to use the MC, MM phono sections same goes for that. Telefunkens, RCAs, Blackburns, or the PSVANE Art Series. ECC83 12AX7.

Just a pair, not all 6. In the "Main" position only. Matching and having matched valves is the secrete to great sounding Macs. Folks cheap out on the valves and then wonder why they sound OK vs GREAT..

Matched means top to bottom and left to right.. The key to fidelity with Macs

Very interesting, because I think it sounds good but not GREAT!  I was using a a McIntosh MA252, which I really liked but it didn’t have power needed/wanted.  I was somewhat under whelmed when I first plugged in the C22. 
 

I am using the MM phono with a Linn LP 12.

Transparent newer cables at the same level you are using will out preform the older model.

@tony1954

Good music lasts.

Why are there so many "oldies" stations these days? Because the 60’s and 70’s were the golden age of popular music. It’s not nostalgia, it’s that the music was just that great.

Good music certainly does last.

People all over the world are still enjoying music written hundreds of years ago. Virtually all of the classical genre that has survived was written before we had any means of playing it back at home for ourselves.

That’s quite impressive, isn’t it?

Even from our own lifetimes, we can be fairly certain that some pieces of music will last as long as the human race does.

The 1960s in particular remains endlessly fascinating. That miraculous decade more or less featured everything that followed since.

On the other hand, if you take away the recency effect it’s hard to see which albums from the last 20 years will make the cut a century from now.

But then you could also argue the same for other art forms such as painting, sculpture, literature, television, film etc.

It would appear that human creativity has now moved on to other equally profitable areas of endeavour.

There’s already millions of attention seeking YouTube channels for example and new computer games coming out every week.

Then there’s the worlds of business, politics and finance...

That old Warhol comment about fame has never seemed more true.