Small listening room now,help with Mac gear please !!

Fattner

Super Member
i moved to a beautiful log home but my audio room went from a 20x30 to 10x13,,,,,,my gear now is Mac 501s,C 2300 preamp ,Mac MVP 871 and thorens TT ,Martin Logan's clsiiz and ML balance force 210.no matter what I do (treatment etc,)the system needs room to breathe,so I'm going to down size to a vintage Mac system and different speaker even though I love that stat sound ,help ! Suggestions needed thx !Fattner
 
The only thing you have to give up are the speakers, the only chance of success will be to find a speaker system that will give you that back wave reflected sound you have become accustomed to or something so new with a pin point detailed sound to make you forget your previous "love".

Have any other speaker systems caught your ear?

Do you have free reign over this rooms layout or still have to factor in your interior decorators expectations?
 
I agree with Chris (and you), but the first thing to do would be to try what you have, although being dipole speakers- they're more room dependent than most. And when done correctly- electrostat's are very enticing. A friend has Acoustat 2+2's.

My room is about the same, so I immediately put in a pair of ESB 7/07's. (4 way, 12 inch bass drivers, huge cabinets.) Went to a bigger speaker- it got worse.

They worked OK, but the bass wasn't OK unless I left the door open- then the image moved to the right a bit (away from the door). It's still like that today.

In any case, a pair of Dynaudio 1.3's came along (2 way bass reflex, 5.5 inch bass driver) and they've worked really well, from Mcintosh 240's to Marantz 8B, '2255's and now the MC-2600. Today's speakers have the cabinet almost part of the woofer, so they're getting frequency responses that would have taken a big woofer in a big box 20 years ago.

So your equipment is top shelf, it'd make any system perform at its peak- you should stay with it, unless you want a different sound.

So to follow on with what Chris suggested, I'd start looking for a smaller bass reflex speaker and realize that your room is probably too small to worry about a speaker that will go too far under 40Hz or so.


As an aside, I was working the Capitol Area Audio Fest several months ago and heard some of John Devore's middle ground offerings in a smallish (hotel sized) rooms and liked the sound, I believe the one they had would be too large for us, but they've got some modest sized speakers that might be of interest- if you can get around his monkey naming policies.

Also Jeff Joseph's Pulsar has a good rep- that's my next speaker. (Joseph Audio)

The local place to me does Focal, they've got some precise monitors that would be worth a listen (Command Performance in Falls Church), and another local place (Evolutions Audio in Fairfax) has Revel speakers that I've always liked. (No help to you being in CA, but if anyone local to me reads this- they'll know where to start)

If you want to try vintage, I'd look for a C-29 and an MC-250. My computer system is on some Jamo Concert 2's driven by an estate sale ($10) MC-250.
 
Great help Thankyou ,I think I want to go vintage ,love the look and love history behind Mac. ,501s are a over kill unless your driving a difficult load such as CLSIIZ ,so I was thinking klipsch ( great history and may tube Mac ,anyone try the inter grated hybrid ma252 ? And I love the Hersey ii hear they go well with Mac tube !! Also love Mac reciever 1500 even if it has only 30 wt/ch tube ,just don't know if I can get a room full sound like I do now .thx Fattner
 
And I love the Hersey ii hear they go well with Mac tube !! Also love Mac reciever 1500 even if it has only 30 wt/ch tube ,just don't know if I can get a room full sound like I do now.

With a pair of high-sensitivity speakers like that, I doubt you'll have a problem on that front. The only problem will be finding the MAC1500 you want.
 
With a pair of high-sensitivity speakers like that, I doubt you'll have a problem on that front. The only problem will be finding the MAC1500 you want.[/QUOTE.
ok so if i perfect mac1500 paired with those klipsch it would give me the full sound i want but yet still vintage ?? thx
 
Last edited:
ok so if i perfect mac1500 paired with those klipsch it would give me the full sound i want but yet still vintage ?? thx

The Heresy's sensitivity of 96 dB/W is very close to the Altec 14 which I've driven a number of times with my MAC1500. It takes 7 watts of power minimum to get the 14's test circuit lamp to illuminate - which borderline requires hearing protection. My room is 15' x 23' and listening distance is ~ 13'.

I doubt you'll ever want for more power unless you listen at insanely loud levels.
 
The Heresy's sensitivity of 96 dB/W is very close to the Altec 14 which I've driven a number of times with my MAC1500. It takes 7 watts of power minimum to get the 14's test circuit lamp to illuminate - which borderline requires hearing protection. My room is 15' x 23' and listening distance is ~ 13'.

I doubt you'll ever want for more power unless you listen at insanely loud levels.
so the best match for heresyIII is the Mac tube 1500 reciever if it prestine condition,right ?
 
A set of Klipcsh in that size room would be like sitting inside a set of headphones......since you can run any speaker you choose with your current amps i would experiment with speakers long before i would start fussing with 50 year old problematic tube gear.

You could spend a lot of money chasing unhappiness....I had a few potential clients like that back in the day.......I was smart enough to part ways while we could still be friendly.
 
so the best match for heresyIII is the Mac tube 1500 reciever if it prestine condition,right ?

I can't see why not.

I might happen to know someone who has one...
Whissle.gif




MAC1500.jpg MAC1500-2.jpg
 
ECC4105D-71E6-4857-8D6D-1F943440F702.jpeg 8031C207-337F-479C-8BF7-52BC499E1C47.jpeg man im just sitting here listening to Frank “live at sands” and watching those blue meters dance !! i might just put this vintage thing hold for awhile or do i see an additional system in the future ? again thanks to all my friends here for info i do appreciate everyone’s input !!
 
Caddy are those JJ 7591 outputs in that Mac??????? :no: LOL :)

Good eye and yes. They were given to me by Audio Classics and to be honest, I can barely hear a difference from the "Holy Grail" WH 7591. I have a set of those but they're too valuable to actually use. <<sigh>>
 
Back
Top Bottom