C2200 -v- C2300
- Thread starter macvisual
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I was just facing the same dilemma two days ago. I reached out to a friend that owns many McIntosh pieces for his opinion. He highly recommended the C2200. I ended up following his advise. I received the unit 2 days ago and I am very happy with it, sounds amazing. Just be ready to replace the stock tubes, they are terrible.
My Understanding, please correct me if I am wrong, the two additional tubes are for the phono stage, even though it doesn't support the MC cartridges, it has a more tube like sound when playing MM cartridges.
My Understanding, please correct me if I am wrong, the two additional tubes are for the phono stage, even though it doesn't support the MC cartridges, it has a more tube like sound when playing MM cartridges.
miner
Super Member
I had a C2200 for a few months and enjoyed it very much - I am a vinyl hound. I used a Graham Slee Products Era Gold V phono stage instead of the onboard stage of the C2200. I have since upgraded (IMHO) to the C2300 becuase I was intrigued witht he control of many functions from the remote, including phono stage loading/capacitance. To me the two units sound very similar. The C2200 uses 12AX7/12AV 7 tubes (2 of each in the phono stage - MM and two each in the line stage). The C2300 used 2 12AX7 each in the linestage, MM phono stage and MC phono stgae. I have since removed the GSP phono stage from the 'tree' an am very happy with the quality of the Mc phono stages. Also, the C2300 used LED lighting vs bulb lighting on the C2200, although I did get the LED kit for the C2200. Either preamp is a gem to own. I was able to trade my C2200 towards the C2300 + cash.
