July '17 System Update Thread

[motorstereo]

^^^^^^Pics don't do that rig justice. Those amps and meters are huge. Not to mention the Mac speakers that almost reach the ceiling. These are the electronics that were driving the 1.2's. Sorry for the blurry
pics. My hands were a bit shaky from being in the same room as all that beautiful Mac gear lol

 

[Velocityboat]

Anyone here have the 1.2KW's or heard them enough to comment on their sound? I still have a bit of an itch to scratch. Would you still go for one of the newer series amps like the 452 or 601's over the 1.2KW's? I get the sense that the 1.2's have a torquey smoothness that the newer amps don't have.

What speakers do you wish to drive them with? Since the choices are all quad balanced but I know power makes a difference.

 

[damacman]

Anyone here have the 1.2KW's or heard them enough to comment on their sound? I still have a bit of an itch to scratch. Would you still go for one of the newer series amps like the 452 or 601's over the 1.2KW's? I get the sense that the 1.2's have a torquey smoothness that the newer amps don't have.

I run bridged MC2600s ... Close enough!

 

[joeinid]

What speakers do you wish to drive them with? Since the choices are all quad balanced but I know power makes a difference.

Well, basically all of them but my Strads the most. I know I barely need more than a few watts, 30 watt peaks will probably be a stretch. I guess I'm looking for the quality of those watts in so much as the smooth, ballsy delivery. I don't like bright or aggressive amps and I guess that's why I'm looking forward to getting back into McIntosh.

 

[joeinid]

I would love to be able to try some 1.2KWs versus MC-1000s on the XR290s. Though it seams I rarely get past 400 to 500 watt peaks snd have hit 2KW peaks on occassion.

When is it past hobby and an obseession?

I've been there a long time. Zero to obsession from day one. My friends and I never stop thinking about the next high, err, piece of gear.

 

[4-2-7]

Dan...if audio systems were houses, yours would be the Winchester Mansion. (always under construction)

- Curious what speaker(s) does each amplifier power?

The mc501s are on the L250s the Mc 402 is driving the 250 TIs the VAC mono blocks are driving the Monitor Audio M3 Mk 2

 

[62caddy]

The mc501s are on the L250s the Mc 402 is driving the 250 TIs the VAC mono blocks are driving the Monitor Audio M3 Mk 2

Thanks. Do you run the Monitors with the JBLs or separately. Only reason I ask I like to run my bookshelf Snell J7 alone without the other speakers from time to time. There is something to be said for the dispersion characteristics of smaller speakers.

 

[Velocityboat]

Well, basically all of them but my Strads the most. I know I barely need more than a few watts, 30 watt peaks will probably be a stretch. I guess I'm looking for the quality of those watts in so much as the smooth, ballsy delivery. I don't like bright or aggressive amps and I guess that's why I'm looking forward to getting back into McIntosh.

I have never heard the Strads but they are well regarded. they are on my got to listen too bucket list. I am sure the MC452 or MC601 would be great.

 

[4-2-7]

Thanks. Do you run the Monitors with the JBLs or separately.

Generally my multi amp/speaker setups are there to switch between what I might want to use at the time for specific music. When I have three vastly different speaker setups and different signature from them it will help in a way to EQ. With my preamp I don't have tone controls, so maybe a recording has a lot of deep tone, bass to it. It could sound a little to deep with my JBL but might be just right or fit the Martin Logan's better.

Then of course we need a good match up of amps to speakers, and if it's hot I don't want to use my tubes. I had the two SS amp setups with the one pair of JBLs and the other with the ML, and my MC275s with the Monitor Audio's. That gave me a wide range of sound depending on what I'm playing, time of day, mood and so forth, this was all fine....

Then the other pair of JBLs and the VAC tube mono blocks fell into my lap in one weekend. Hell yeah I wanted to try stacking the JBLs and see if I could rip the house apart. Well they do and with close to 2000 watts. So the vids I posted was just some testing and stretching their legs and is not really normal listening around here, but it's fun.

When I got the VAC amps hooked up I tried testing them with the Monitor Audio's and the ML Sequels II and went back and forth.
VAC Amp thread
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index....ower-mk-ii-monophonic-power-amplifier.768672/

I did this setup right out of the VAC manual...

Most loudspeakers vary outside of any one of these ranges, which is why experimentation is essential. We often find that matching a speaker's minimum impedance is more important than matching its nominal (average) impedance. If you bi-wire your system (run separate speaker leads from the amplifier to the high and low frequency transducers) you may discover that two different impedance taps work best. For example, with early Martin Logan Sequel II we find that the bass speaker is best matched with the 4 ohm tap, while the electrostatic panel is best controlled by the 2 ohm tap. To achieve this connection, the black leads of both speaker cables connect to "G", the red lead for the panel connects to "2", and the red lead for the woofer connects to "4". With later Sequels we use the 4 ohm connection for both drivers.

Believe me that match up was really good, hell the VAC amps just sound good with anything really. But then the second set of JBLs came home with me so the ML need to be moved out of the room to make space.

Enter the Monitor Audio again with the VAC amps...and I made these two clips to text to Tony because this match up sounded so good that night. The Monitor Audio M3 Mk2s really have a very good range, they go deep but not flabby, highs and mids are clean and tight and they seem to play everything very well with the VAC amps. This setup is not big time rocking the house party time, but is a great all around system and will play anything at normal levels.