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MC 402 bi-wire?

TOM1040

TOM1040

Well-Known Member
Could I bi-wire one MC 402 to a set of speakers with Low pass and high pass connectors? Such as the 8ohm tap to the high pass and 4 ohm to the low pass. Is that possible and if so, would it produce better sound?

Speakers are JBL S2600.

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I am curious.
Thanks for your replies.
 
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Yes you can but this would cut the bass level in half as you outlined.

thanks,
Ron-C
 
yes, in fact, I would reverse it and put the highs on the 4 ohm and the bass on the 8 ohm tap. That may "tame" the higher frequencies on the JBL's and you might find that it is a great combination.:thmbsp:
 
Okay, Thanks. Yet another wrinkle: I have a set of Tannoy ST50 supertweeters attached to the high pass right now. How would that be affected?

By the way, I love these Mcintosh pieces , MC402 & C46. The system sounds great right now but I was reading about bi-wiring and was curious.

Thanks for your responses!
 
I just called a Mac dealer and asked him the same question. I am not sure if he gave me the right answer. He said I could do it but the wires from the speakers would have to come back to the amp into only one speaker tap. He called it a "temination cap" or somthing like that.

I am not sure now.
 
Super-tweeter would not change anything because it operates at the top octave or above. If you connect a 8 ohm speaker section to the 4 ohm taps this will halve the volume. If you connect a 4 ohm speaker section to the 8 ohm taps this will double the output and the 2 ohm taps will halve the output.
You can use two speaker taps at the same time on a McIntosh amp especially if your are connecting two different sections such as bass and then mid-high.

Thanks,
Ron-C
 
As AudioClassics1 suggestion I tried this. It sounds great. However, this a.m. I put on some Donald Fagan-the Night Fly-and turned it up. I noticed that between the 40 and 400 meter the powerguard lights lit up briefly.

Why would that occur? The music was loud but the sound was not distorted in any way ( according to my ears ). Perhaps an early sign that distortion was occuring?

I am new to the McIntosh world. Please explain it to me.

P.S. I have it with a C46-not sure what % the volume was. I think quite high.
 
Powerguard is there to limit distortion to no more than 1% to protect your equipment. So no matter how loud you listen you should never hear distortion (as long as your speakers can handle the power).

Bass uses the most power, I would guess some loud bass caused your powerguard lights to come on. If the power guard lights only come on once in a while I would not worry about it. If the powerguard lights are often on you should use the next lower speaker tap on your amp.

More info on powerguard here: http://www.roger-russell.com/mcintosh2.htm#powerguard
 
You can light the power guard lights at every beat of the music if you can stand the volume and your speakers are rated for the peak power the amp makes. Power Guard will not protect speakers from being overdriven but will protect against distortion damaging your tweeters.

thanks,
Ron-C
 
Thanks for everyones help. I love these components. The overall presentation of the music is effortless. It sounds unlike anything I have heard before. Crystal clear. I will have to get use to this. Apparently, I have been used to distortion from the inception of my audio pursuits. Strange thing is that now there is none and this sounds so different to me. I welcome it and now know a little about higher end products and the benefits that they have.

Thanks again.
 
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