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To monoblock or not to monoblock McIntosh MC275's

Hi everyone,

I'd appreciate your opinions on the matter. I currently own an MC275 MK IV, running McIntosh XRT 28's. It sounds great - even though the XRT's can handle up 1200W and the MC275's output 80-90W.

I got my hands on a NOS (still sealed) MK IV, and I'm debating whether I should keep it and run as them monoblocks. The reason I'm not trying it personally, is because I don't want to open that new one that's still sealed.

So my dilemma is -  would running 2 MC275 as monoblocks make a BIG difference in sound quality?

I'm sure it will be louder, but for the sake of the argument, if my sound is now 100% - in your opinion
(hypothetically speaking) will it improve it to say 103% or 120%? Will I notice a big enough difference?

Thank you!
yyman23

Showing 5 responses by yyman23

yyman23 OP
153 posts
 
Thank you everyone. These are some good tips. However, someone offered me a really good price for the second one and apparently it was a MK V, not a MK IV, so I decided to sell it.

yyman23 OP
153 posts
 
Yeah, I should have tried it on my system, and I was a bit silly not to even open the box because I wanted to keep its value. It's a McIntosh. It doesn't matter!
Luck has it that I may be able to get another MK IV and put an end to this and see for myself if it makes a difference. 
My XRT 28's are rate 1200 watts and sound great and pretty loud with only 75 WPC from a single MC275.
I'll post my impression if I get to test another MK IV. (or 5)

yyman23 OP
153 posts
 
My experience using the MC275 as monoblocks was that it was a little louder and a little more dynamic, but for my personal taste it wasn't worth it. While I love the tube sound, I use my system for hours at a time daily and I decided to go with SS. MC601's give my speakers a ton of power that fits more with mostly rock music that I listen too. Jazz was dreamy with the MC275 but I listen to it about 5%-10% of the time.
yyman23 OP
153 posts
 

@paradisecom

@souravhifi

Thanks for reviving this thread :-) I kept my MC275 and ended up buying a pair of MC601s. I switch between the two when I feeling like it. I also havea a pait of MC30s powering the XRT28's and it sounds amazing. I'm running a C2300 as a preamp and I absolutely love it.

yyman23 OP
153 posts
 

@souravhifi 

Yeah, there's why it holds a special pace in my system for me. The fact that it doesn't have any digital signals coming in.  I also like the way it looks. Sunny get me wrong, the C12000 is gorgeous, but I'm keeping my C2300 for the long run.

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