When I was looking for a replacement for my C29 as I had known Frank Gow for many years. I gave him a call and ask his recommendation. he and I talked for a while and I said I thought I might like a C-40 to which he said their were much better sounding units. This was in 08 and 09. But when I said it wouldn't fit, he said why? When I explained my equipment cabinet would only allow the older 16" units and I wanted to match my MR80, 2505, MPI-4 etc, he said I wouldn't believe it but that the C-37 was the best 16" Mac ever built . It sounded great, was dependable, had fantastic signal to noise, and very low distortion.
I chose the C-34 as it was the same size as my 29, had graphic tone controls, a record selector a listen switch and processor loops. I recently returned it to Audio classics for a minor repair and the unit was returned with a performance check sheet. With less than .005 % distortion from 20 to 20,000, 100 db signal to noise for high level and 89 db signal to noise for phono using the new phono standard of 5 mv versus the old standard of 10 mv, meaning close to 95 db for the old method. So how much better can a C-37 be? Will it surely wipe a C-39 specs?
I don't know, but I will say I was a little disappointed in the phono section of the C-34 vs my C-29; but, I added a MP100 and all my phono issues have disappeared. The specs may not read as well as a C-34 But a MP 100 brings back the sound of the C-29 with even better clarity. The next question is do I want an XX2 Dynavector or not? The only thing I wish the MP 100 had some of the flexibility the new tube phono pre-amp has. 25 hz high pass filter for instance for when you are playing warped records or ones made from less than perfect vinyl would be a nice addition. Its no fun hearing woofers hitting a grill or a coil former bottoming out. Why waste all that power and potentially damage your speakers?
