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I have been running a Marantz 2270 (70w into 8 ohm) with my old C39s, and it does a fair job but it is on the fritz.FYI - two 130Bs, N1200 crossover, one 175 potato masher.1) what would be an appropriate sized (watts per channel) for these speakers? I don't want to under, or over power.2) I am looking at the McIntosh MA 252. Is that okay? Appropriate?Any thoughts would be very helpful.
Once upon a time I ran my L150A's with a Marantz 3600 preamp and 510M power amp. For funzies and while my 510M was in for service I thought I'd get a cheap, "crappy" amp to serve as a scab until the 510M returned. The "scab" turned out to be an Adcom GFA-555II and it blew the Marantz out of the water in every way. I was so impressed I decided to try one of Adcom's preamps, a GFP-555 in place of the 3600. Well, two years later the Adcom gear is still here while the Marantz stuff is long gone. So unless you're dead set on the McIntosh name, I think you'll be impressed by the Adcom stuff.
I wasn't going to go there but, since you've opened the door . . .Quote:
Originally Posted by DerekTheGreat
I ran my 1957-vintage C37 030 off tubes decades ago, beginning with a Mac C20 I still own, and a Fisher SA-1000 I traded for a Crown D150 and have never looked back. With your budget you could completely re-do your front-end with a Crown PSL-2 and PS400 or Power Line Four for around a grand or less and that 200-WPC will be more than enough for your C39s. It will likely light them up for you! And, given the resale value of this gear, it could be a free test-drive if you don't like the results.
If you've already budgeted $4000 for your upgrade and (like many) have a fascination for the blue meters, then by all means go right ahead. I got talked off the McIntosh wall by a Mac dealer over 50-years ago when he knew what a high-schooler wanted, but also offered me an alternative brand they stood behind. I still have the Mac Clinic proof-of-performance test results on the Crown that even Dave O'Brien praised while he went through the C20 completely in a struggle to get it to meet its original specs back when it was only a teenager. The Crown is still going strong today.
Sorry for the diversion from your question . . . but I am a Mac owner!
Right, that Mac & Marantz stuff sure is pretty, but I was blown away by the performance of "lesser" gear. You could say I got suckered into the "if you pay more, you get more" mantra.
Also a fan of Crown! The PS-200 I have has been marvelous, so much so I'm trying to get PS-400's in the door for an audition. The SL-1 is a darn fine preamp too! I have one and it has edged out the Adcom GFP-555. By comparison, the GFP-555 is a little fuzzy in the upper registers and has too much gain for what I'm doing, also seems to emphasize mid bass a bit. The SL-1? I can't say enough good things about it, real sleeper of a preamp and can be had for a fraction of a SL-2. The SL-1 is extremely quiet, accurate and detailed with the right amount of gain for my gear.
The MA 252 is a lifestyle product. I would avoid it due to its grotesque green LEDs under the tubes and the fact that they are designing it to check off boxes rather than reaching solid engineering goals.Quote:
Originally Posted by glenglenn
Widget
Oh wow, that's sad. Looks like a jazzed up laboratory hot plate.
Thanks guys for ALL the feedback. I will probably NOT go with that MAC 252, but I still can't shake off the desire for tubes. I have a Mac 225 that I'm sure is way underpowered for these babies. In a side note, I just finished Garret Hongo's interesting book, "The Perfect Sound". It is one third boring family memoir, one third awesome nerdy history of his fascination with audio gear and the perfect sound, and another third MUSIC. It is rare to hear audio people talk about music. Huh? Maybe this should be another post, rambling here....Again, thanks all for the input. I'm gonna look into each and every amp you've listed here.
The speakers were designed in the days when amplifiers were 10 to 30 watts, most in the lower end of that range, and that was for mono systems—one speaker and one amp to create the desired loudness. Fifty-sixty watt amplifiers were uncommon until the advent of stereo drove people to use smaller, much less efficient bass reflex and drastically less efficient acoustic suspension speakers.The sensitivity of your speakers, given acoustic coupling of the double woofer, is somewhere in the neighborhood of 102 to 105 dB at one meter with one watt of drive. That means your 225 is powerful enough to play them cleanly loud enough for everyone in your neighborhood to hear. It would not be under powering your speakers to use it—UNLESS you are cranking the tone control to get more low bass which you should not be doing; that will weaken, and ruin, the surrounds on those valuable unreconable woofers.
Just follow along with what was in their owners manuals. And as Speakerdave points out don't add bass boost and if you have the original aluminum tangential diaphrams in the CD's they are NLA.
Enjoy them!
Rob :)
Just my humble opinion.
Ron sends