Which one to get: McIntosh C2300 or Mcintosh C2500

No and Yes. I have a C2300 with all 12ax7 and two MC275 with 12ax7 and 12at7. All matched, sound good with no tweaking.

Beewax, the C2300 uses all 12AX7's, and the C2200 uses (4)12AX7's and (2)12AT7's.

Do you have a C2200?

I am also using the C2300 with 12AX7 and 12AT7 Telefunken smooth plate on my 2xMC275-V. I don't like to mix anything. The bottom line is wonderful sound with no limits. If I need to upgrade, my system will be C2500 to match MC275-VI or C1000 to match MC2301 only.
With your older MC402 and MCD500, I would recommend MC2300.

Nice Miner, I'm Really having good results with the Teles, both the ribbed and the smooth plates as well as the Gold Lion.

As an update, my Psvanes have become noisy. I put the Tele ribbed back into the MC stage, left the Mc stock in MM stage, and Gold Lions in the line stage. All is well now.

I too have the C2300 got it a month before the end of the production. I immediately rolled my tube to the Telefunken smooth plate on the MC phono and Gold Lion super cry on the Line Stage. I'm very happy with these tube.

oops, sorry. The McIntosh forum is on the audiokarma site.

I use Psvane Treasures in my C2300. I have tried Tele ribbed, Mullard, Sovtek, Gold Lions, Tungsol and ended up with the Psvanes. If you go with them spend the extra for the 'selected' ones - see Grant Fidelity.

For cheap tubes that made a big improvement in my humble C220, try Mullard reissues. I paid $40 for each matched pair. They sound smoother, are quieter, and are better at soundstaging and imaging than the stock tubes. Check out the McIntosh forum on the audio circle site for more on tubes.

Thank you.....I actually ended up buying the C2300. Any recommendations on tube rolling?.........I actually tried the Genelax Gold Lions but ended up putting the stock tubes back in.....the Gold Lions were too bass heavy for my taste.

Agree with Miner, the C2500 will be terrific but the C2300 will be highly sought after in years to come ala the original C22. The in board dac will save you a set of cables and an extra power cord in addition to what is likely to be a very nice dac but there is plenty of evidence out there that the average Mac user is not afraid to accumulate a few boxes. ;)

I understand why McIntosh is doing it and the incremental cost is negligible. The craziness of this hobby however will probably cause a few to picket due to the heresy of mixing analog and digital.

This is the last month of C2300 production - get it before it is gone forever . The DAC on the C2500 is good BUT DACs are constantly changing and upgraded. The DAC in your MCD500 is very good and can be used as an outboard DAC.