Opinions from the members here: McIntosh tube gear vs. solid state

[E-Stat]

That's quite the setup. Nice also to see someone is prudent enough to have a fire extinguisher on hand.

Harry was quite affected by The Great Fire in 1985 that took out half the house.

That was originally the bedroom.

 

[sberger]

Gee, I don't find that to be the case at all with 300 watt (or greater) tube amps. I use VTL MB-450s with my stats and have heard 2301s driving (the heck out of) Scaena 1.6s in a superb system.

"Wow" just feels inadequate here.

 

[kredmore]

I am just curious what you guys go for when buying McIntosh gear or does it matter? Tubes vs solid state.

Long term, do you gravitate towards solid state for ease of maintenance or prefer tubes no matter what?

I am a tube guy at heart, but I usually lean solid state because my system is on 12-16 hours a day. Obviously not all of it is active listening and some of it I am probably sleeping through. I just love to have music playing.

So what do your systems mostly consist of?

Thanks!

I use a tube amp for easy listening all day while working, and have SS amp in living room for more family entertainment type situations.

 

[twiiii]

I only have one tube in my system that belongs to a MPI-4. After 40 years Audio classics did the replacement and rebuild. I heard the 220, 2200, 2300, owned an original C-22, used a 20 and an 11. I wasn't impressed. Now a C500 T I would keep if some gave it to me. But the idea of replacing tubes just rubs me the wrong way. It did when I owned 240's 275's Mc 60's and a MA 230. I got a real nasty taste owning Knight, Fisher and Scott pieces first. At least a Mac would usually last a year between tube changes. My favorite Mac tube piece is the 3500. I was bi-amping and having 4 3500's was just out of reason at the time. I would need 6 today. and with Home theatre 8 for the 3 front channels. I used 3500's with PA system, both indoors and outdoors. They were dependable, always sounded great, we changed tubes every year and performed a couple of up dates while in use. I drove Ampex capstan motors with 3500's to get variable speed control. Installed a couple of pairs to drive Concert Grands. Hearing Grands with the meters indicating 35 watts were breath taking. What I liked about the 3500 was how fatigue free it was. It had a 1/3 or 1/4 the distortion and almost 10 db more signal to noise of other Mac amps at the time. I thought two 3500's wiped a 2300.

I could own 3500's even with all the age and tube issues. It was that special. I could own a Frank Gow C2200,too, a remembrance of a close friend. The 3500's, C2200, and my old Ampex 300-2, with some original HS tapes would be memorable.

 

[jlovda]

Replace "vinyl" with "vinyl and tubes."