McIntosh MX110 bi-amping

T

thevilla

New Member
Hello,
I recently acquired a McIntosh MX110 Z model. I was wondering if I can bi-amp with this unit. Reason being I have a Fisher SA-300 as my main amplifier driving not so efficient B&W speakers. Any input welcome!
Thank You in Advance,
Rob
 
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use rec out for second amp.
I use a Jolida 302 to power a second set of heresy's.The 302 has it's own volume control.Main amp,an MC240 powers a set of Cornwalls
 
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Unless McIntosh does it different, Rec Out level typically doesn't vary with volume control so that's not really too good a place to connect external amp.

If you want to put more power to the speakers then you need a more powerful amplifier, not biamping in the way I suspect you are thinking of.
 
Also bear in mind the MX110 output impedance is specified to be used with amplifiers having input impedance of 100K ohm or greater. Connected amplifiers should therefore be selected so that the combined load doesn't result in impedance value lower than that.
 
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Thank you everyone for the comments. My impedance is at 100k with the Fisher amp. Can I then simply use 2 rca splitters from the MX100 outputs giving me then 4 rca outs? Do I risk degradation of sound quality?
 
If the min recommended load on the MX110 is 100k, I think you'd need to look hard for two amps with 200k or more input impedance.

Again though, if you're looking to deliver more "oomph" to the speakers, full range passive biamping ain't the answer.
 
1st gen McIntosh SS amplifiers (which includes all SS models w/o Power Guard) were 200K ohm input impedance; tube models after MC30/60 were 250K and 500K for MC30/MC60.
 
Sure, it makes sense that McIntosh would have amps of suitable input impedance that could work in parallel.

Didn't see a spec on the Fisher and wasn't quite sure how/if the filtered & unfiltered inputs play together for net input impedance. But, that's not to imply I think straight up parallel/full range biamp is the way to go; but that's the OP's call.
 
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whoaru99 said:
Sure, it makes sense that McIntosh would have amps of suitable input impedance that could work in parallel.

Didn't see a spec on the Fisher and wasn't quite sure how/if the filtered & unfiltered inputs play together for net input impedance. But, that's not to imply I think straight up parallel/full range biamp is the way to go; but that's the OP's call.
Click to expand...

Strangely enough the MX110 is the only (stereo) McIntosh preamplifier that has that distinction. No other Mc preamp requires input impedance above 50K ohm.
 
You can use a splitter and do passive biamping. It wont degrade the audio signal. The tricky part is when you use different amps they usually have different input sensitivity. Some amps, like macs have an input gain control adjustment. For instant, mc30s have .5 volt sensitivity so you can lower it to match another amp that has higher sensitivity like 1.2 volts... but its not easy to get it perfect. Plus, often times a more powerful amp is used for LF so aside from looking at the sensitivity numbers if the wattage is different it may have an impact. So you can do it by ear but unless you have special equipment to measure the audio in the room you will wonder if its set up correctly.
 
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