Pulling the trigger
- Thread starter taylode
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Reverb2009
Well-known member
taylode said:
Cool,
You must let us know how you like the combination of Martin Logan’s with McIntosh. I have only listened to McIntosh gear one time with McIntosh speakers and I was very unimpressed, the room was acoustically treated, so it could have been over treated and killed the sound.
Visually there gear looks very impressive.
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Zip3kx07 said:
I'm not a fan of McIntosh speakers either but Mc gear with B&W's is magic and I'm expecting great things from the ML's. When I picked up my Ascent's the previous owner was a McIntosh guy and they sounded pretty good in his house. Actually, I thought they sounded a lot better than what he replaced the ML's with. Oh well his loss my gain!
MarkNewbie
Well-known member
Zip3kx07 said:
I doubt that it was the room treatment. McIntosh (not spelled McIntoch) speakers are not that great sounding no matter what gear you couple them with. You could liken this to ML and their Subs. Mac is playing off of brand loyality with their speakers but IMHO not very well. No where near as well as ML does. I have heard Mac speakers coupled with Classe, Rotel, & Krell and they still sounded weak. My Mac dealer refuses to carry the speakers in stock because he can't sell them. The ones that I have heard have been ones that came back and were traded for something else due to the original owner's dissappointment with them.
McIntosh/ML
Well, I've got a Mac integrated amp - a "small" one that being the MA-6500 that blends wonderfully with my Ascents. No imbalance detected. Very natural and beautiful sound, not to neglect the high WAF. Actually my wife talked me into buying the McIntosh after auditioning the Ascents at the dealer - nothing has driven the Ascents better in his setup. And I can only say that although I never wanted to cash out that much money for an amp, I never did regret it and I still don't. The cables are another story - changed 5 sets so far until found the appropriate ones.
Well, I've got a Mac integrated amp - a "small" one that being the MA-6500 that blends wonderfully with my Ascents. No imbalance detected. Very natural and beautiful sound, not to neglect the high WAF. Actually my wife talked me into buying the McIntosh after auditioning the Ascents at the dealer - nothing has driven the Ascents better in his setup. And I can only say that although I never wanted to cash out that much money for an amp, I never did regret it and I still don't. The cables are another story - changed 5 sets so far until found the appropriate ones.
MarkNewbie
Well-known member
miljac said:
What speaker cables did you settle on? Also, what were the five(5) sets that you tried and could you tell me what you experienced with each? I am audtioning Nordost right now but want to give them a good 2/3 weeks of listening before I make up my mind.
Cables
Tried the following (please note that I live in Germany & might use some cables that might not be common in USA):
Kimber 8TC + 4TC: found them somewhat harsh, maybe did not have enough patience for sufficient break-in (?) - but gave up after 4 weeks.
Oehlbach LS-214: Somewhat dull & compressed
Oehlbach Heavenly Sound (pure silver): too thin in bass, sometimes harsh
VdH Magnum: Good overall balance, but somewhat grainy; good soundstage
InAkustik/Monitor Black & White LS-1202: Everything in place, using them now. Wonderful timbre & balance, natural. Soundstage terrific.
Generally I found out that I preferred biwiring (always used separate cables for bass & panels; not a biwired single cable).
Tried also some silver cables built similar to Nordost, but the result was almost the same as with Oehlbach silver cables.
Always thought that at least for the panels should go for low inductance and that the capacitance of the cable did not matter that much, Monitors showing that *both* inductance & capacitance should be as low as possible.
YMMV
Good luck in search.
MarkNewbie said:
Tried the following (please note that I live in Germany & might use some cables that might not be common in USA):
Kimber 8TC + 4TC: found them somewhat harsh, maybe did not have enough patience for sufficient break-in (?) - but gave up after 4 weeks.
Oehlbach LS-214: Somewhat dull & compressed
Oehlbach Heavenly Sound (pure silver): too thin in bass, sometimes harsh
VdH Magnum: Good overall balance, but somewhat grainy; good soundstage
InAkustik/Monitor Black & White LS-1202: Everything in place, using them now. Wonderful timbre & balance, natural. Soundstage terrific.
Generally I found out that I preferred biwiring (always used separate cables for bass & panels; not a biwired single cable).
Tried also some silver cables built similar to Nordost, but the result was almost the same as with Oehlbach silver cables.
Always thought that at least for the panels should go for low inductance and that the capacitance of the cable did not matter that much, Monitors showing that *both* inductance & capacitance should be as low as possible.
YMMV
Good luck in search.
miljac said:
That's certainly good news since my McIntosh Amp/Pre is being deliverd today. Also, my Fresco are in route now and my Theater/Descent ship Friday. Thanks to everyone that told me to check out Audiogon. It has saved me a ton of dough on mostly new equipment. My saving over my local Magnolia HiFi is over $4K! Now if I could just find a local dealer to let me audition different interconnects/speaker wire. Thus far their only willing to sell it to me with a 7 day return policy.
DTB300
Well-known member
taylode said:
A lot of places do business that way. It is better than purchasing a cable and being stuck with it if you do not like it. For me, 7 days is plenty of time to compare and I usually knew within a day or so if I liked it or not.
Just plan your purchases remembering the closing dates of the cc bill, so you can purchase and return for credit, so both items appear on the same cc invoice.
Dan
DTB300 said:
You bring up a good point about the invoicing, but I thought (keep in mind I'm rather new to all of this) that cables need more than 7 day's break in before they could effectively be evaluated?
DTB300
Well-known member
taylode said:
IMO you will get the general sense of the tonal characteristics of a cable even when it is new. Some will disagree with me, but I do not think a cable changes that much from the new state, and being new will give you an idea of what they sound like.
There are people who believe the cable changes, or "burn in", is more of "getting used to" the cable than an actual change. The only way to verify this is having two sets of cables: use one for a bit and then compare to the brand new one. This is an ongoing debate just like "cables sound different" debate.
Now, are you more confused then ever? Stand in line.....
I would say, and from my experience, if you like the sound of the cable initially, there is probably no reason that it will (or can?) change greatly over time to the point of hating it.
Dan
DTB300 said:
Those sound like wise and experienced words.
Fortunately, I remember a thread about cables, which I just re-read, that recommended a site that would demo cable. That site was fatwire.com and I just spoke with them and they're putting together three cable's they recommend for my configuration. They'll let me demo them and buy the one I like. All I have to do is put down I think it's 15% of the cost of the cables. If I don't like any and don't buy from them I lose the 15%; however, if I do buy from them the money is applied towards the purcase. All-in-all it sounds pretty good to me an unknowing newbie. 
DTB300 said:
I agree with you. I gave the some cables a longer period of chance since been told by many it would "take a long time" before showing what they can do. Did not work for me from the beginning, did not work after 3-4 weeks - don't believe that another 3-4 weeks would help - so lost the nerve. The ones I liked and lived with for a longer time sounded "right" immediately. So... yeah, the general sound characteristics can be heard quickly. Good point here.
Well my Fresco's got here yesterday, my McIntosh MX119 and MC207 are being delivered tonight, and my Samsung DLP and Denon 3910 are being delivered Thursday. Now if I could just get The Cable Company to send me their speaker cable/interconnect recommendations so I could demo them. Having all of the gear and not being able to listen to anything is tough!
MarkNewbie
Well-known member
MarkNewbie said:I doubt that it was the room treatment. McIntosh (not spelled McIntoch) speakers are not that great sounding no matter what gear you couple them with. You could liken this to ML and their Subs. Mac is playing off of brand loyality with their speakers but IMHO not very well. No where near as well as ML does. I have heard Mac speakers coupled with Classe, Rotel, & Krell and they still sounded weak. My Mac dealer refuses to carry the speakers in stock because he can't sell them. The ones that I have heard have been ones that came back and were traded for something else due to the original owner's dissappointment with them.
Nothing like having a major audio equipment manufacturer make a humble pee-on such as myself eat my words. Check these babies out! They can be had for around $40,000.00 from what I am hearing.
http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mcprod/...Loudspeaker+Systems&prodid=1114&product=XRT2K
Ouch baby!
MarkNewbie said:Nothing like having a major audio equipment manufacturer make a humble pee-on such as myself eat my words. Check these babies out! They can be had for around $40,000.00 from what I am hearing.
http://www.mcintoshlabs.com/mcprod/...Loudspeaker+Systems&prodid=1114&product=XRT2K
Ouch baby!
I guess they had to come out with something for their monster MC2KW 2,000 watt mono bloc to power!
MarkNewbie
Well-known member
taylode said:
I hear that it is up there in price too! The latest edition of Steroephile magazine rated the Mac C2200 pre as a class A component. I guess I picked a winner there! Didn't see any Mac speakers in their reccomended list.
You must be going nuts not being able to listen to all that great gear!
I look forward to your thoughts in about 3 weeks from now! MarkNewbie said:You must be going nuts not being able to listen to all that great gear!
You have no idea! I have the Ascents out and on display, the Fresco's are in their box behind the couch as is the McIntosh. I'm not sure when I'll get my demo cables but they will difinitely be the long pole in the tent! The cables that have been recommended are Synergistic Research (Alpha Sterling Active), Wireworld (Equinox), Analysis Plus (Copper Oval In). I can't wait to try them. I just hope a budget of $2k is enough for cables because I think I've just about exhausted spousal support.
If I go much over $2K she knows that her decorating funds are in jeopardy and that would not be good a thing!timinwi
Member
Some thoughts
Many of the members have very good suggestions. I would like to offer a couple.
The speaker cable will definitely contribute differences with the speakers and amp that have been discussed. Consider the higher end acoustic zen products. The sound will be open, less grainy, and clearer than some of the recommendations discussed. Try out different cables before you purchase them. You will be more satisfied as an audiophile.
I use an amp that drives my Ascents, frescos, grotto, descent, and theater i ML logan speakers. consider test driving from a dealer simaudio Titan 7 channel with balanced interconnect inputs. Additionally, Preamp is the EAD theatermaster 8000 pro to direct the sound signal from the devices. While this is my opinion, this combination will crash and burn the McI products, anthem, Pass. You can pick the titan and EAD at pretty good prices used.
Many of the members have very good suggestions. I would like to offer a couple.
The speaker cable will definitely contribute differences with the speakers and amp that have been discussed. Consider the higher end acoustic zen products. The sound will be open, less grainy, and clearer than some of the recommendations discussed. Try out different cables before you purchase them. You will be more satisfied as an audiophile.
I use an amp that drives my Ascents, frescos, grotto, descent, and theater i ML logan speakers. consider test driving from a dealer simaudio Titan 7 channel with balanced interconnect inputs. Additionally, Preamp is the EAD theatermaster 8000 pro to direct the sound signal from the devices. While this is my opinion, this combination will crash and burn the McI products, anthem, Pass. You can pick the titan and EAD at pretty good prices used.
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