I would move away from a McIntosh integrated. Your speakers are great and although McIntosh and Sonus Faber generally sound good together I think you are missing the benefots of a separate amp and pre amp. I had a McIntosh set up and moved away from it to tubes (Audio Research Ref160S and Ref6SE) and this was an astonishing improvement in overall sound quality. I think you might need more detail for those speakers. I have since moved to SS but your system deserves a better amp and pre amp. Let us know how you make out.
Worthy upgrade?
I recently upgraded my system to a McIntosh 9500 integrated and Sonus faber Serafinos. My sources are Innuos Zenith Mk 3 and VPI Prime with Valhalla tonearm cable and a Soundsmith Zephyr Mimic Star cartridge. Most of my cables are Nordost Heimdall 2, with an Audioquest Hurricane power cable to the integrated. My current speaker cables are Nordost Heimdall Frey 2.
Now my question is whether a speaker cable upgrade would be crazy? In upgrading the speakers I thought a speaker cable upgrade was in order. I tried the Nordost Tyr 2. I heard a significant improvement in the sound. But, is the upgrade ridiculous in terms of the rest of my system?
This may be a stupid question so please be gentle. 😎
thanks.
Ken