MC1.25KW - no ordinary amps, thank you McIntosh!

They are powerhouses for sure. I probably should have gone for the C1100, and still may do that. I am using a Luxman C-900u, so that still needs little break in too. The combo is excellent but going all McIntosh might have been the smarter way to go, especially from a visual standpoint.


It sounds like they are everything you wanted and more. It is great the amp changed sound stage size so much. What preamp did you settle on running?

My old MC1000s the first McIntosh quad balanced design seem to crank out the heat as did the MC2500s in mono with lots of fan action. I guess I don’t run as efficient speaker as everyone else or push them more. Even my Class D Lyngdorf gets toasty running my Line Arrays. Perhaps I just have crappy speaker cables.
 
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They are powerhouses for sure. I probably should have gone for the C1100, and still may do that. I am using a Luxman C-900u, so that still needs little break in too. The combo is excellent but going all McIntosh might have been the smarter way to go, especially from a visual standpoint.

There is no wrong answer if you like the result. Plus it is your ears that are letting you see into the music. I do admit a lot of McIntosh components offer synergy together probably because most are excellent designs from start.
 
They are powerhouses for sure. I probably should have gone for the C1100, and still may do that. I am using a Luxman C-900u, so that still needs little break in too. The combo is excellent but going all McIntosh might have been the smarter way to go, especially from a visual standpoint.

That Luxman pre has phenmenal specs. The ladder resistor volume control, double balanced and noise cancellation sound very interesting and true to the music source reproduction. Sounds like a good match to the amps.
 
Thank you. I have been looking at the C-900u for a long time. I mainly wanted a balanced solid state preamp to go with my amps because my system plays 12-16 hours a day. I did not want to worry about tubes, although I do love the sound of them.

That Luxman pre has phenomenal specs. The ladder resistor volume control, double balanced and noise cancellation sound very interesting and true to the music source reproduction. Sounds like a good match to the amps.
 
Where are you? Can I come and listen? :)

Edit: I see you are in NY. Might have been possible to visit when I lived in Toronto, but it's a little far from Vancouver :)
 
Joe thanks for the kind words. I think you will like them for A long time.Our engineers spent quite some time perfecting the sound and performance of these new Beast's.Livio from Sonus Faber helped design the new look.They look so much better than the pictures.New power Xfmrs and I have to build and test the Autoformers.Very Heavy and time consuming.But the final product is well worth it.Im tired...
 
Jimi,

Thank you to you and McIntosh for making my destination amps. Well done!

Joe thanks for the kind words. I think you will like them for A long time.Our engineers spent quite some time perfecting the sound and performance of these new Beast's. Livio from Sonus Faber helped design the new look.They look so much better than the pictures. New power Xfmrs and I have to build and test the Autoformers. Very Heavy and time consuming. But the final product is well worth it. I'm tired...
 
The new MC1.25KW amps are definitely more open and brighter than the original 1.2kw amps. They have more of a “lit from within” quality on top that definitely exposes more detail. They don’t have that, in my opinion, smooth torquey push of the original amps anymore. They can and absolutely do produce prodigious bass.

I don’t want to start a huge debate, but do you guys believe in “break in” and that a component changes along the way as you get more time on it? Or do you believe that it’s either you adjusting to the gear and getting used to it or possibly something else like that’s just the way it is?
 
Those make my new to me 501s look like toys. Seems we are both looking to end up in Revel or big JBL land eventually and we certainly have the amps to drive just about anything now.

Reading between the lines I sense you are not 100 percent thrilled yet. Give yourself some time with them and then get into the tweak phase with cables and other adjustments. I spent hours doing that yesterday and found what I was looking for via subtle tweaks to cartridge loading and VTA. Hopefully you will too...

jblnut
 
I believe in break in. I remember how sweet and and smooth the treble was on the original 1.2s and I’m sure the treble on these will smooth out and sweeten up. I’ve had lots of gear in my time and there are definite changes along the way with everything I’ve owned.
 
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Just for fun, I hooked up a pair of KEF LS50 speakers. Holy cow! You’ve never heard these play so well until you’ve heard them through the new 1.25s. Just wonderful.

I need some sleep.

Well done McIntosh. I predict huge sales for these little powerhouses.
 
Been playing music since last night, non-stop, life is good.

Let it snow, let it snow.

joeinid, if you want to really hear what those amps can really deliver, consider having a 20~40 amp rated 240 volt twin outlet power feed installed for them to be plugged into after converting/rewiring them(the Mac 1.25`s) over to 240 volts..

I did that for (IMG_0179.JPG 2) of my (4) 2006 MC 1.2`s and at realistic levels they came alive and operated much cooler because of 1/2 the amperage and were less sensitive to main`s starvation(AC line voltage drops under impactful/dynamic realistic listening levels)..

In my case they were used in a tri-amplified living room sound system taking care of the lows from 20 to 80 Hz. powering Mac XRT- 30 twin 12" speaker bass cabinets...

Just a thought Sir.
 
Bill,

Thank you for the suggestion. I have always been curious about doing something like that. I know from other forum friends that running a system from 240V outlets yields a huge benefit. I’m certainly curious and would love to try it.

I think I might have hit 12-20 watt peaks and that was certainly enough. :)

I have no idea what I’ll do with another 1180 wpc. Oh my.


joeinid, if you want to really hear what those amps can really deliver, consider having a 20~40 amp rated 240 volt twin outlet power feed installed for them to be plugged into after converting/rewiring them(the Mac 1.25`s) over to 240 volts..

I did that for (View attachment 1081648 2) of my (4) 2006 MC 1.2`s and at realistic levels they came alive and operated much cooler because of 1/2 the amperage and were less sensitive to main`s starvation(AC line voltage drops under impactful/dynamic realistic listening levels)..

In my case they were used in a tri-amplified living room sound system taking care of the lows from 20 to 80 Hz. powering Mac XRT- 30 twin 12" speaker bass cabinets...

Just a thought Sir.
 
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