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Dissing the McIntosh Autoformers?

Is not imitation the scincerest form of flattery? Check out Paul Speltz, "Zero Former". (search) BTW I own apair of his "anti-cables". I think they are awesome! IMO :)
 
True that you can have a big impedance peak at a crossover point but that is what yields a flat response in a speaker. Crossovers are full of resistors, caps, coils, and other parts to shape the frequency response and match dissimilar drivers. If driver has a peak in response the crossover needs to raise the impedance at that frequency to pad it down. Ohm's law at work.
Quads are an easy load to drive and work well with any of our amps. Just about every reviewer I know has a set of Quads. I would too if I had another listening room but my house is full.
With computer aided design most new speakers have a fairly flat impedance load to the amp. The speaker designer often wants to keep the impedance low so that the efficiency looks high with a 2.83 volt signal on the spec sheet.
The trend overseas is to move back to the past 8 ohm load design. The newest McIntosh speakers, XLS and the big XRT2KW speakers are all designed for 8 ohms. 8 ohm speakers are much less dependant on huge speaker cables than say a 3 ohm design.
Of course we are not in the cable business.

Ron-C
 
There are some valid arguments against the use of autoformers, but more often than not when someone goes on and on about how bad autoformers are they are simply bashing Mcintosh amps for the sake of bashing Mcintosh amps.

Mike
 
This is what I replied.


"Brett and Trevor,,,since when are your opinions facts??


I have owned amps from every price point except the ones designed to be
built in the 100's...from tube to SS including hybrids.


I just dont see what is the knock on the Mcamps....All amps are liked
and disliked and that is a fact of life,,,,some people may say that
whatever speakers you like are turds. It never ends.


reasonable reliable about McIntosh? I think you are stretching it
there.


And since when being an 'audiophile' is like audio mecca? Most of the
audiophiles I know are neurotic gear chasers...People who love music
that sounds good seems like a better place to me to be in. Mcintosh
doesnt need audiophiles as they only keep their gear till TAS tells
them to."
 
I remember that John Dunlavy recommended Spectron amps for his speakers. I'm almost certain that the Spectron amps feature some type of autoformer as well. I"ve never considered Spectron because of my experience with another company whose products I loved, California Audio Labs. Now the company is out of business. I think I've found a new home at Mcintosh. Great sounding great that has a stable brand behind it. There was so much bashing of Mcintosh speakers that I almost blew them off without an audition. Thank goodness, I did not :thmbsp: . I remain very impressed with performance and build quality. I'm amps shopping now and hope Mcintosh fills the bill. You can easily find Mcintosh products in most major cities. Try finding some of the other brands. If I want to hear BAT, I have to travel 500 miles for example. :thumbsdn:
 
These two nabobs of negativism sure have an agenda. Check out the one guy's web site, Rage Audio. Seems they used to make amplifiers under the brand name ME. By the verbiage they were far superior to all else ever made. Then they went out of business..Oh well, we will just never know what we missed.

Ron-C
 
These two nabobs of negativism sure have an agenda. Check out the one guy's web site, Rage Audio. Seems they used to make amplifiers under the brand name ME. By the verbiage they were far superior to all else ever made. Then they went out of business..Oh well, we will just never know what we missed.

Ron-C
 
Murray, as you have the car photos covered, do you think I should help with one of the others? I really could do it justice as I do actually have three Great Danes :D

Ron, you left out "Nattering," which means talking idly. They are "nattering nabobs of negativsm".
 
N7SC said:
Murray, as you have the car photos covered, do you think I should help with one of the others? I really could do it justice as I do actually have three Great Danes :D <<snip>>
Click to expand...
:yikes: Three? That's a Great bunch of Danes! Post some pics. Next, you're going to tell us that you live in a 1 br apartment. :D

Murray
 
Weren't those the famous last words of Spiro the beloved before he resigned? :) The poor guy should have known better than to speak to the media and use a real vocabulary. Too bad he was a shady character though.
 
Mike Gibson said:
Weren't those the famous last words of Spiro the beloved before he resigned? :) The poor guy should have known better than to speak to the media and use a real vocabulary. Too bad he was a shady character though.
Click to expand...
Yep, Spiro it was. Good catch.

Murray

Edit: The linked article states that VP Agnew resigned October 1974 but this is incorrect. It was October 1973.
 
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Ron, I hope you still haven't given up on me with my incessant questions.

This pic shows the impedance curve of the Quad ESL57s.
Which tap would you suggest using on the amp?
Thanks
 
I'm not Ron but I say the 4 ohm tap as it covers the lowest impedence points on the curve. But try the 8 ohm tap and see which sounds better.


My .02

Artie
 
That '58 Chevy is beautiful. My favorite from '58 is the Mercury Landcruiser. Had the inverted rear window that could be lowered and air conditioner outlets in the overhead. BIG, MASSIVE and a real land boat it there was one. By contrast the Lincoln was almost sedate and plain. The chrome on it probably weighed more than some cars do today.
 
macman007 said:
I'm not Ron but I say the 4 ohm tap as it covers the lowest impedence points on the curve. But try the 8 ohm tap and see which sounds better.
Click to expand...

The lowest point is actually 1.75 Ohms and the high is 60 Ohms. That is quite a swing.
 
skippy_ps said:
:yikes: Three? That's a Great bunch of Danes! Post some pics. Next, you're going to tell us that you live in a 1 br apartment. :D

Murray
Click to expand...

Here you go! The first one is our two boys when they were 6 week-old pups, first week of August 2001. The girl kneeling with them is my daughter who was 17 at the time. The second pic is my daughter with them in the summer of 2004. The little one (about 92 lbs) is the boys' little sister, who had megaesophagus due to a persistant right aortic arch. Long story short: neither the breeder, a friend of ours, nor we, wanted to just put her down, as per advice of know-it-all dog show types. We got together and jointly paid for the corrective surgery, when the little girl was only 10 weeks old. She was born a year after the boys, in 2002. She is now an absolute delight, sweet and cute as a button. She also takes no crap from her much bigger brothers!

I live in a normal house. Well, "normal" as far as goes the physical description of the place, anyway.
 
Hey, great pics! Thanks for posting. It's incredible how big the males are - looks like your daughter has a firm grip on the leash.

Last dog I had was a Yorkie male. Weighed aobut 3.5 lbs. although he didn't like standing on the postage scale. Lost custody to the gf after the vindictive breakup.

Murray
 
Don't Waste Your Time with Rec.Audio.Opinion

Don't waste your time reading rec.audio.opinion.

Posting a question there is like asking Osma Bin Laden what's his favourite single malt?

This particular audio group seems dominated by a handful of induhvidials who spend most of their time in name-calling and attacking each other, but never have anything of substance to say.

Only time it was interesting was when someone who called themself "The Big Cheese" would post on how and why Bose was the number 1 and best speaker brand. He was probably a shill for Bose, but it sure brought the loonies out of the woodwork whenever he posted. I miss his posts, so maybe he has a new job now working for someone else. :cool:
 
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