tube pre & ss amp integrated

@juanmanuelfangioii 

So… why? What character did you not like. Personally I do not like the character of McIntosh stuff… too little detail. Too much bass. But many people love them.

@seekerbob

There are many ways to dissect the audio component combinations..

There are big sonic advantages to really stiff, hard to move cones…. They snap back quick, being very accurate… these cones can be very well controlled. But, to move the cones, you need massive power. But big amps are expensive and heavy and tend to be less musical.

There are sonic advantages to real low power amps… say a 300B amp. Wonderful warmth and musicality. But their power output is incredibly low. But there is a big limitation on the kind of speakers you can drive with them. You can see my systems under my UserID. I managed to use a 300B amp for my headphones. But to get similar sound with my Sonus Faber tower speakers (90db)… I needed to put a $34K set of tube monoblocks.

Even worse, electrostatic. I fell in love with these in the late ‘70s. But they need enormous power amps. They are really hard to drive. I brought a pair home and they just sucked my power amp dry and sounded terrible. I had to buy a really expensive amp Threshold s500 (solid state)… $5K… $18K in todays money. I couldn’t afford the speakers after getting the amp.

So, folks try and match strengths with strengths. Efficient speakers with low power amps and visa versa. Both strategies have merit.

@seekerbob,

It depends. I might have invested $10K or more that was unnecessary. With real inefficient speakers I might need more power. If the speakers were really warm the combo might not be ideal.

Also I know my tastes and what equipment sounds like what and which is compatible with what. MacIntosh equipment has a very specific sound type… and improperly matched with equipment / user taste can be very suboptimal.

I have fifty years of relentless learning and experience. For folks with less experience it can be overwhelming and just make things all too confusing to manage. I am trying to guide down a path most likely to result in a very happy owner.