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Upgrading to McIntosh Amp...?

Last week I asked my friend to bring his McIntosh 2505 (2x50watts) amp to my apartment for audition. First of, I ran my system with EAD PM 500 and EAD TM Signature. He asked me to disable sub-woofer in my system. When I disable the subwoofer and send all low frequency to Matrix 805, it's clear that no bass was found. My 805 sounded thin and dry with no bass at all. Then the magic came when we switch to McIntosh amp. I was stunned by sweet high, deep and defined bass information, and tremendous sound stage from my 805 which I never heard when pairing with PM 500. I always think that my 805 cannot produce bass at all. I've been thinking to upgrade my speaker, but now I know what's really need to be upgraded. POWER AMPLIFIER.

Let's look at my plan. I'm planning to get the McIntosh amp for my Music(85%)/HT(15%) system. Now, I'm looking at

1. McIntosh MC-7108 (8x40w): It has 8 channel but I'll either BRIDGE or BI-AMPS 2 channels for each Left, Center, and Right which uses total of 6 channels. Then uses the rest (2 channels) for surrounds.

2. McIntosh MC-162 (2x160w): This amp will drive the left and right only. I'll get a reasonable price for 3-channels amp for my center and surround speakers.

Now I need your opinion suggestion about my plans.
1. Which plan is the best move in your opinion?
2. If I decided to go for MC-7108, should I biamp or bridge 2 channels to feed my front and center speakers?
3. If I decided to go for MC-162, does any one know any good 3-channel amps that can be found used for around $300.
4. Has any one ever compare Mcintosh Amo between muti-channel series and 2-channel series? Will there be any sonic differences?

Almost forgot, these are my equipments that will be associating with the new McIntosh amp.
EAD T-7000 transport
EAD TheaterMaster Signature (Pre/Pro)
McIntosh ...................(Power Amp)
B&W Matrix 805 (L,R)
B&W Matrix HTM (center)
B&W DM602 (surrounds)

Supakit S.
supakit
jg47
24 posts
 
I'd buy any big stereo Mac amp of your preference for the l&r stereo front speakers.Keep the EAD for the center and rears.I've owned the pm500 and if you only use 3 channels instead of 5 the power goes up from 100x5 to 170x3.Try to get a Mac amp of about 150-200 watts stereo and it should match well.Regards,Jim.
macfan
5 posts
 
Thinking surround was the way to go, and being a "Macfan" for nyears, I purchased a mac 7206...6 ch 200wpc power amp...My old mac was a 7150 ..150wpc

...The first thing I didn't realize, because the salesman either didnt know or forgot to tell me (no excuses though, should'a known it myself), was that 200wpc was at 4 ohms..The 7206 has no "autoformers", so the power output depends on the load your pumping it into...In my case 8 ohms...So right away the 200wpc becomes 120wpc...

The bottom line, I was sadly disappointed and sold it. I then went to the other extreme and got a 602(600wpc) for my mains, an older 7200 for center (200wpc bridgeable to mono at 600w), and kept my old 7150 for the surrounds. Awesome..(but pricey).

So....Compare apples to apples, what you see is maybe not what you'll get.....Those older mac amps with autoformers are worth the price..Check around .. Macfan
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