Speakers for MC 452

[barsur]

I was looking for new loudspeakers for my MC 452. I had connected the MC 452 with the B&W 804 (10 years old). It sounds great, as I described before in another thread, but I wanted to have new world class loudspeakers for this world class amp.

For me it is very important, that the loudspeaker can really play loud, that the sound has no "sweet spot", sound is smooth and of course wife accapant factor is also very important.

I was listening at home to following loudspeakers:

Sonus Faber Cremona
B&W 803 Diamond
B&W 804 Diamond
Focal 1038
Linn Majik Isobarik
Linn 242
Linn 350
Blumenhofer Genuin FS 3
Diapson Astera

First of all I have to say that the MC 452 "drove" all loudspeakers wonderful. And that is the reason, why I am so a big fan and collector of Mcintosh amps. You never have a problem with these amps, it doesn´t matter which Loudspeaker you have or which music you are playing.

At the end I bought the Linn 242. The sound is absolut stunning, even the dealer from B&W had to admit this, when he compared his B&W against the Linn 242 at my home. Cristal clear and smooth music. You can listen to the music without fatigue for hours.

Bye

Martin

Here some photos (TV is a Panasonic 65 VT30):

 

[pagpc]

too subjective

all you can do is shop around. i have genesis technologies V, and love them. only you and the wife know what sounds best to you. enjoy the shopping.

peter

 

[barsur]

Hello pagpc

You are right, buying loudspeakers is very subjective like almost all audio audition. For that reason I didn´t describe all the difference which we heard by the loudspeakers.
Important was, that the MC 452 could "drove" all the different loudspeakers and "loads" wonderful. It sounded always completly unstressful, transparent and clear.
We tried also some other amps from some other companies and this amps sounded good with some of the loudspeakers, but not with all of them, like the MC 452 did.
And this was really remarkable.

Bye

Martin

 

[Rick58]

That must be a stunning system, excellent to have the opportunity to audition all the speakers and purchase what is the very best sounding overall. Congratulations on your purchases!

I don't know what all is important to you sonically, but you may find the system gives a better sense of soundstaging and depth of image, and maybe better recreation of the recording space/venue if the speakers are moved out into the room a bit (the more the better, IMHO).

Having the large flat screen directly in between the speakers is, I believe, generally not recommended for best sound in those respects.

I would try pulling the speakers straight 'out' by a couple feet, maybe increasing their separation by a foot or so, and experiment with toe-in toward the listening position ...

If the sound as it is totally pleases you, then please feel free to disregard my comments, but thought you might want to experiment a little and see what the results are.

 

[barsur]

Hello Rick58

This is funny, two weeks ago I had visit from the President of Eternal Arts (http://www.audioclassica.de/en/en-eternalarts) who said exactly the same what you are saying. Then he listened to the system and he was very pleased from the sound.

But I followed his/yours ideas (thanks a lot for your comments) and put the speakers 10 inchs more in the living room. I know it is still not the perfect position, but if I would do more, my wife would not so happy....

Sound improved maybe a little bit in the highest frequences, but not so much as I was told. It sounded great before the move and after.
Soundstaging and depth of image was IMHO the same. Maybe this effect is because I am sitting 15 feets away from the speakers.
It seems so, that Linn speakers are very "forgiving" position wise.

Bye

Martin

 

[Rick58]

Hey Martin, glad to hear you can experiment a little. I did forget, I think I read (in Stereophile or Absolute Sound, I used to subscribe to both) that Linn speakers (at least the models they were reviewing, it was several years ago) were designed to sound great even if placed against walls - that was possibly even the recommended positioning, I forget.

So possibly you did even better than you thought (or maybe, if you placed the other speakers in the same positions, revealed their shortcomings in that placement for those speakers). The Linns sound like 'just the ticket' for your setup.

That is certainly something to remember about the Linns. I am lucky (at least in this house) I have the 'living room' section of our living/dining room as my listening environment; I have monitor speakers way out from walls, about 6' from my chair in a nearfield setup (and a sub to augment the low bass). With this setup, the sense of space is maximized and I can still get good volume with the low powered tube amps I use.

When I need to, I can pull the speakers back closer to the wall/corners of the room. Still sounds OK for background music.

I hope one of these years to be able to consider a system on par with yours ... but for now, I do enjoy what I have. Happy listening!

 

[EfeTe]

Hallo Martin,

I was meaning to ask you. What did you think of the Asteras when you had the chance to audition them? Especially as to whether or not it was a leap in quality over your B&W's, and how they matched to the 452 amp.

Vielen Dank

 

[dan87951]

I was never fan of the original Nautilus 804. I thought they were lacking in bass and were too bright for my ears. I did enjoy my Nautilus 803's very much and felt they were a giant leap forward when compared to the N804. Bowers & Wilkins has since polished the 804 starting with the S and Diamond series -- both of these versions of 804 I like very much. If it were me, I would go for the 803D's or 803 Diamonds. I highly recommend (if you can) you listen to both versions of these 803's as they sound very different even though they look the same. I personally owned a set of 803D's and loved them for many years before finally making the switch to 802 Diamonds. The Diamond series seems to be more mid range focused when compared to the D's. The diamonds also have improved bass too. In my opinion the Diamond series is a much more polished speaker over the D series and is the last generation to have the good looking (my opinion) cabinet before they switched to what they are using now. Happy listening and good luck!

 

[twiiii]

I'm not really fond of B&W highs. I have recently heard Magico S5 and S5 II and was favorably impressed as compared to B&W, but for that kind of money I would be out looking for a pair of Mac XR 290's. They can handle 1000 watt peaks, but our rather large, and can produce loud levels with very low distortion. And they are line arrays which reveal details point source speakers can't ever hope to produce unless operated in an anechoic chamber. or in a very dead room at a very short listening distance. And lets face it B&W and Magico can't produce frequencies below 30 hZ like XR 290's or even older Mac speakers. Its your choice. Modern overly bright speakers with resonant high ends or speakers with firm accurate bass to build the rest of the musical spectrum upon with high definition that can be listened to at greater distances while keeping room anomalies at bay for long periods of time without fatigue.

 

[EfeTe]

Thanks lads!

Personally I'm leaning towards the Diapasons.

 

[barsur]

Hallo Martin,

I was meaning to ask you. What did you think of the Asteras when you had the chance to audition them? Especially as to whether or not it was a leap in quality over your B&W's, and how they matched to the 452 amp.

Vielen Dank

Hello EfeTe,

sorry but I can´t answer your question. It is now almost 6 years ago. When me make our blind test, we stopp the blind test session if we don´t get the switch between two amps/speakers/CD Players o what so ever not under 30 seconds...
What I remeber is that before the audition the Diapasons were also one of my favorites but landed on the last place. But I can´t tell you anymore why. Sorry for this.

But please go out for yourself and listen to all the speakers in your room with your equipment and your taste.
Because my blind test and opinion are always based on my room, with my aditional equipment and my taste, and this will be completly different from your room and your taste.

For that reason please don´t take all theses forums and their opinions to serious...

Best regards and good luck

Martin

 

[EfeTe]

Very much appreciated Martin!

 

[VintagePlus]

I have a MC 452 running B&W 802D's. The sound is nothing short of amazing. I highly recommend.