Amp Advice

[marlin]

Since I was a young lad I have dreamed of owning McIntosh gear. I remember when I was 16 years old going into the local dealer and being totally enthralled by those big blue eyes.
I am closing in on being able to pull the trigger on a power amp. Several questions have arisen:
I currently am running Aeon I's with a Cary SLI-80 integrated amp with 50/80 watts triode/ultralinear. I love the sound of the tubes but yearn for more power. I am looking for a used Mac in the 200-300 watts range around $2500.
The configuration I am proposing is running the one set of outputs to the Mac with the Cary speaker outs to the sub.
Can anyone see any problems with this?
I have thought of and tried bi-amping but without a crossover this isn't ideal.
Which Mac would you advise I look at?
Are there any to stay away from?
If so why?

Any help anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated.

 

[aliveatfive]

In my opinion (and the opinions of several others,) panels sound better with tubes, woofers with transistors. Also, unless you biamp with a crossover, you'll have one hell of a time matching levels.

 

[timm]

For what it is worth... I heard the Mac w/ Aeons (think it was the MC275??? ). I don't know if it was the room/the goofy placement (they were apart by quite a bit - toed in pretty well....but it was some of the BEST Martin Logan sound I have heard. Everything was very 3 dimensional - expecially the voices. I was quite surprised given that I later purchased Odysseys / my brother has Ascents (he was there too). I am not sure You would need to bi-amp anything...and I am not sure what the Mac would bring that the Cary would not.. I have not heard the Cary - and do not know how happy it is with the Logan's impedance.....But, as Mr. Five said -- solid state on the woofers / tubes on the top

 

[marlin]

The tube sound with the ML's is the best. I had a SS amp at 400 watts and got rid of it in favor of the Cary.
Other members use tube pre with SS power with good results. In essence that is what I would be doing.
I am just trying to avoid having to purchase a tube pre. I am sold on tube sound and ML.

 

[taylode]

Since I was a young lad I have dreamed of owning McIntosh gear. I remember when I was 16 years old going into the local dealer and being totally enthralled by those big blue eyes.
I am closing in on being able to pull the trigger on a power amp. Several questions have arisen:
I currently am running Aeon I's with a Cary SLI-80 integrated amp with 50/80 watts triode/ultralinear. I love the sound of the tubes but yearn for more power. I am looking for a used Mac in the 200-300 watts range around $2500.
The configuration I am proposing is running the one set of outputs to the Mac with the Cary speaker outs to the sub.
Can anyone see any problems with this?
I have thought of and tried bi-amping but without a crossover this isn't ideal.
Which Mac would you advise I look at?
Are there any to stay away from?
If so why?

Any help anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated.

Well if you love the tubes then you could go with a used MC275. If you find later that you need more umph you can get a second and use them a mono-blocks -- no meter though. If you want SS and blue meters, a used MC252 is what you want. Both will sound great! Good luck :music:

 

[Spike]

The configuration I am proposing is running the one set of outputs to the Mac with the Cary speaker outs to the sub.
Can anyone see any problems with this?

Not quite correct! You'll need to hook up the Cary speaker outputs to the panels and the "pre-amp" (line-level) output to the Mac to drive the bass. Now, if you also want to involve the sub, you'll need to have a "Y-connector" like This one from MonsterCables in order to feed line-level signal to the Mac and the sub. The idea is to preserve the purity of the delicate signal from the Cary (tubes) to the panels.

I have thought of and tried bi-amping but without a crossover this isn't ideal.

It's true that bi-amping with a crossover is the ideal situation, but you'll be surprised as to how many times passive bi-amping proved to work well, especially with the Logans.

Which Mac would you advise I look at?
Are there any to stay away from?
If so why?

If you're looking for bass performance, why do you need to have a Mac amplifier just to drive the bass? Wouldn't a Sunfire, Bryston, BAT or Parasound be a better and more cost-effective candidate?

Any help anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated.

Here's my proposal for your system..
You can get a Bryston (for their vise grip on the bass) for less than $1500, and these EVS "Nude" Attenuators to balance the gain between the Bryston and Cary. You'll still come out ahead in your $2500 budget.

Good Luck
Spike

 

[Dreamer]

Spike,

Thanks for posting that link to the EVS website. I've been looking for them for a while, with no luck...

--Richard

 

[tonepub]

If you want tubes, consider a pair of used ARC classic 120's. They are about 110 watts per channel in triode mode and you can probably get a nice set for about 2500 bucks.

Also, the Manley snappers are about 4500 a pair, but you might be able to have a dealer with a demo pair for sale somewhere around your budget.

 

[oneslip17]

Hey Dad-I wouldnt get a Bryston. When I worked at Echo, I seem to remember Steve having a lot of them on the bench. Oh...I joined the way....:music: The SPEC-2 is getting here tomorrow!