Opinions on the Mac MA 2275?

I have been using the MA2275 for about a month now. This is my first setup that is all tubes; I really enjoy it and now understand why people enjoy tubes.

In swapping emails with Ron Cornilius of McIntosh, he stated, "The MA2275 has a very clear sound with low distortion."; I agree with this. I was previously using a kW500, which is also "very clear with low distortion"; In my system I found the Mac to surpass the kW in clarity, being the most revealing amp I have owned and I certainly don't mean that in a bad sense.

I should pause to mention that the first 9 days of owning it (I purchased it used) I wasn't totally sold, it had a great midrange but it was very veiled. After 9 days I took the only after market power cord I own, a Virtual Dynamics David, that was on my CDP, and moved it to the Mac and this made a huge difference, totally removing the veil. (I don't know if my stock PC has issues or not.)

Anyway, this is by far the most 3 dimensional system I have owned allowing me to hear into the soundstage like I have not experienced in my house before, to the point of hearing things in recordings that I haven't acknowledged before and/or hearing rendered as such.

My speakers, B&W 802D's, while they like power, mate very well with this amp, that said, I can run the amp out of steam. I use the 4 ohm taps per McIntosh's recommendations for my speakers.

The bass will go surprisingly deep, but differently than when using the kW; the kW had deeper bass at a constant level, but the Mac seems to reproduce real low level stuff in a way I don't recall with the kW. The midrange and upper end are exceptional, to me.

Was to be the gift to myself for big 50, alas price,too much for my desire,perhaps I will be able to obtain all the funds needed in my next 50 years.:] But having auditioned it. the look, the feel, the sound and seeing the wonderfull features, such as headphone output etc, if your wallet will allow, go for it.

What does it mean:

"I use the 4 ohm taps per McIntosh's recommendations for my speakers."

Isn't the 802D an 8 ohm speaker? Are you running it in 4 ohm?

Terry

Hi Terry,

The 802D's are 8 ohm, but McIntosh recommends using the 4 ohm taps with these speakers, I am not sure why, contact Chuck Hinton at Mac if you want further clarification. I have not tried the 8 ohm taps but I may at some point just to hear the difference.

Brian

There hardly are any real 8 ohm speakers in the world - and especially not any B&Ws. If you take a look at speaker impedance plots, the magnitude is often all over the map. The only speakers I have seen with a rather flat impedance are transmission line types (like some of the VS) and Coincident among other little companies that make single driver speakers and special crossover designs.

So, the reason McIntosh said use 4 ohm taps is because your speakers are around 4 ohms (and below I believe) around the port tuning frequency. So they are not really 8 ohm speakers...B&W is just duping you like many other speaker manufacturers with their "nominal" specs.