Upgrade to McIntosh

Mc275 is a nice amp! Not sure how many watts you need. McIntosh mc30 monoblocks are nice or marantz 8b. 

Vintage is the way to go! Marantz tube gear is great! mc30 and mc225 are my favorite Mac amps. I’m tinkering with HK citation 1 and 2 sound really good too! 
 

@audioman58 I’m not surprised! I don’t like how McIntosh uses circuit boards in mc275. That type of money should be point to point. They must get parts from China because most manufactures do. Assembled in the us. 
 

glowing green leds under the tube are kinda silly. My wife didn’t like that at all. Happy wife happy life lol
 

overpriced, McIntosh vintage gear sounds good. Mx110, mc30 mc225 mc240. Not my favorite can’t beat it if you get a good price for it.  

@wolfgangamadeusaudiophiliac This is most definitely a great conversation from everyone.

I play with vintage gear all the time. I prefer warming sound, I also like fast detailed tight bass.

I’ve bought new gear solid state power amplifiers and preamplifiers. What I found is I’m not a big fan of modern solid state amplifiers, I don’t like class D which is where the industry is going, due to cost savings.

Preamplifiers have improved low noise floor. Modern Solid State preamplifiers have that quality.

I have two very good vintage tube preamplifiers recapped restored. Marantz 7c & HK Citation 1. 

Both tube preamplifiers sound very good.

I’ve tried Marantz 7c tube preamp with Marantz 15, Marantz 16 Marantz 250. All solid state with Marantz sound. All been recapped bench tested. Marantz 7c took it to another level with them.

Mixing Mcintosh would be the same thing,

I’ve also tried Citation 1 preamp tube with HK Citation 16 150 watts Solid State amp. That combination sounds very good as well.

All tube amplifiers are not the same as like solid state amplifiers. Some are warmer tube sounding others can be cold and harsh.

Marantz 8b tube amplifier and solid state marantz amplifiers sound very close. Marantz 8b in its power range 35 watts, almost solid state sounding, tight bass, fast response, detailed highs etc.

If had power hungry speakers and wanted high volumes. Marantz 7c tube pre and marantz 250 or 500 amazing fit. But I only need 35 watts, sounds little more airy detailed to me.

Harmon Kardon Citation 2 tube power amplifier sound more like a tube amp to me. Still very wonderful. I would say If I need more power Citation 16 with 150watts fits the bill!

Now Marantz tube pre amp and power amplifier have a lower noise floor then the HK Tube system. I have La Scalas speakers, you will hear noise with tube period.. HK system I can hear hiss, completely normal.

I have a modern rotel RC-1580 preamp "wonderful preamp" sounds very good! Cheap, doesn’t add anything and it doesn’t subtract, Has tone controls, remote etc. One big positive it is silent, any amplifier i connect to it is silent or almost silent. Great with horn speakers.

If you want a low noise floor modern solid state preamp way to go, match it with vintage or new tube amplifier great results.

Based on what you want to do, what speakers you have. Mixing tubes and solid state have there benefits.

Mcintosh is great! I’ve had mc275 wasn’t for me, older McIntosh amps great midrange. I did a complete restoration on Mcintosh MX110 Jason Momoa has it now lol. Did a restoration MC240 and MC30. Build quality is wonderful! But wasn’t the sound I was looking for. Roger Russell is an amazing guy at Mcintosh.

Don’t be afraid to branch out, I have 1952 Pilot amps AA-901 sounds amazing, tried them with the rotel and Citation1. Wonderfull wonderful amps.

Back to new amplifiers, If I was going with new one it most likely would be tube.

Cheers

 

Casey

Dang it wrote too much lol.

 

 

 

EH tubes are much better