Tube or SS preamp use with SS amp???


I'm wondering about switching to the Mcintosh 2200 tube preamp from the C100 Solid State McIntosh preamp.

I am running two MC352 Solid State Amplifiers, however, and wonder if I should be mixing the system.

Would this be a sonic change? If so, would it be "warmer" or what?

Thanks for any/all opinions and help.

John
jbatlanta

Showing 1 response by jbatlanta

Vallyplastic,

I run a Mac C100 connected to two MC352's via
XLR cabling throughout, to keep it all balanced as that is one of the 'special' features of these components in that they keep the signal separated throughout each stage, never mixed. (does the C2200 do this?).

I would highly recommend you adding another MC352 to your system, and then vertically bi-amping them. (one amp for each side L/R....and one channel for high and mids, the other channel for lows.

I've done this with TMC gold speaker cable to a pair of Tannoy D-700's, and the sonic improvement over just one amp (the MC 300) was dramatic!

I also run a pair of stereo subwoofers (400watters) directly from the pre-amp also, filtered down using the subwoofers electronics to blend with the D-700's. This is nice as it adds bottom end down to 20Hz without messing around with the signal to the Tannoy's at all...they're still given full spectrum to produce what they can.

The resulting music is very very pure and exactingly clean, even at very very high volume. You can really blast a flute and guitar duet, for instance, and it sounds real.

I am currently waiting for a pair of Tannoy Supertweeters I've ordered from Audio Classics, and will wire these in parallel with the D-700's, to bring the total spectrum way up there in frequency akin to the latest speakers.

Why do you think the MC352 needs to be 'tamed'??

And, I'll ask my question again, what would exchanging the C100 with the C2200 do for this setup?

John