Speaker pairing with McIntosh?
- Thread starter Richiecee
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Good ones...nice kit
Pretty much any speaker in existence will work, it needs to be narrowed down.
The biggest filter will be price / budget, this will help a lot.
Next will be musical taste and listening style. If you like soft "elevator music" vs electronic music with lots of low bass, compressed vintage rock vs modern, jazz and horns vs ... you get it. Also is your listening typically a single seat for "critical listening" where a narrow dispersion is best or roaming the room with guests where you need wide dispersion. To you like loud enough to shake the dishes on the next floor or soft?
Your room? Small or large, live or carpeted and damped?
Is there a speaker that you have now and like, or is there something you don't like about it?
"what speaker" is a very common question on these forums, and there's always a lot of great information here. Many of us have travelled a long road to what we have now and have passion for our systems as well as experience to share on why we chose it so please give us less variables so that we can go beyond "I love brand X and it always pairs well with McIntosh".
Congrats on a nice system, it should give you lots of listening pleasure. It is an unusual pairing however, usually the MC152 would be paired with a more compact preamp, or the C2700 with a larger or often tube amplifier, I'm curious why you chose this pairing (which might help to understand speaker options).
The biggest filter will be price / budget, this will help a lot.
Next will be musical taste and listening style. If you like soft "elevator music" vs electronic music with lots of low bass, compressed vintage rock vs modern, jazz and horns vs ... you get it. Also is your listening typically a single seat for "critical listening" where a narrow dispersion is best or roaming the room with guests where you need wide dispersion. To you like loud enough to shake the dishes on the next floor or soft?
Your room? Small or large, live or carpeted and damped?
Is there a speaker that you have now and like, or is there something you don't like about it?
"what speaker" is a very common question on these forums, and there's always a lot of great information here. Many of us have travelled a long road to what we have now and have passion for our systems as well as experience to share on why we chose it so please give us less variables so that we can go beyond "I love brand X and it always pairs well with McIntosh".
Congrats on a nice system, it should give you lots of listening pleasure. It is an unusual pairing however, usually the MC152 would be paired with a more compact preamp, or the C2700 with a larger or often tube amplifier, I'm curious why you chose this pairing (which might help to understand speaker options).
So long as the amplifier suits the demands of the speaker, ie: impedance, recommended power etc, matching Brand X amplifier with Y speaker isn't that critical.
After that, the only thing that matters is finding the loudpeaker that sounds best to you, that's within your budget and size/room setup limitations.
After that, the only thing that matters is finding the loudpeaker that sounds best to you, that's within your budget and size/room setup limitations.
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jblnut
Don't Overthink It
Asking a bunch of random people to pick your speakers is kinda like asking those same people to pick your next meal. You really need to decide what *you* like instead of asking what we like.
As other have stated, a modern Mac amp can power just about anything out there, so have at it - get out there and listen to some speakers
jblnut
As other have stated, a modern Mac amp can power just about anything out there, so have at it - get out there and listen to some speakers
jblnut
The rated output of the amp is 150WPC. Unless you have a really large room this will be fairly loud, so efficiency should not be a big deal. The higher the sensitivity rating, the louder your speaker will be per Watt. You could go as low as 80db and probably not want for volume.
I would make sure that you exceed the power rating. 200W-300W. I really hate to worry about my speakers when I am cranking the stereo - I don't crank real loud often, but when I do I want to feel confidant!
The amp has taps for 2,4,and 8 ohms. I would suggest that your speaker should have a rated impedance that matches one of these.
Too many speakers frequency range ratings only go down to 65Hz on the low end. Make sure you get down to 20Hz. If you cant find a set you like that is flat down to 20Hz then add the necessary evil of a sub-woofer.
Also, everything @SaturationPt said is spot on! I like that he started with price/budget - TRUTH
I would make sure that you exceed the power rating. 200W-300W. I really hate to worry about my speakers when I am cranking the stereo - I don't crank real loud often, but when I do I want to feel confidant!
The amp has taps for 2,4,and 8 ohms. I would suggest that your speaker should have a rated impedance that matches one of these.
Too many speakers frequency range ratings only go down to 65Hz on the low end. Make sure you get down to 20Hz. If you cant find a set you like that is flat down to 20Hz then add the necessary evil of a sub-woofer.
Also, everything @SaturationPt said is spot on! I like that he started with price/budget - TRUTH
jayvis
Addicted Member
Since the OP is asking for suggestions, I'll point toward Sonus faber speakers. They're owned by the same company that owns McIntosh. Most McIntosh dealers use Sonus faber speakers in their displays with McIntosh electronics. But as others have mentioned, you have tons of options available. You made a great choice on your amp/preamp. 
^^^
How true. I know of a lot of people with completely different tastes/preferences in speakers—Altec, Avantgarde, B&W, Focal, JBL, Klipsch, Magico, Magnepan, MartinLogan, McIntosh, Sonas Faber, Vandersteen, Wilson—who all use McIntosh amps and preamps. Interestingly, one of my dealers had never really liked Klipsch speakers, which he sells (until he heard the Jubilees). He has B&Ws. But we both agree on McIntosh.
How true. I know of a lot of people with completely different tastes/preferences in speakers—Altec, Avantgarde, B&W, Focal, JBL, Klipsch, Magico, Magnepan, MartinLogan, McIntosh, Sonas Faber, Vandersteen, Wilson—who all use McIntosh amps and preamps. Interestingly, one of my dealers had never really liked Klipsch speakers, which he sells (until he heard the Jubilees). He has B&Ws. But we both agree on McIntosh.
grillebilly
Empty Head
The replies telling you to listen for yourself are true gospel. If you read enough similar threads you’ll find there’s 2 popular themes: decide for yourself or buy whatever I have.
twiiii
Lunatic Member
With early Mcintosh amps with Autoformers for best accuracy below 300 hz you wanted speakers with well damped woofers. Acoustic suspension and Mcintosh speakers with critically damped woofers. When the MC 2002 and MC 7200 and 7100 came along with out autoformers with lower internal resistance and higher damping factor then other types of speakers could be chosen. With todays current amps such as the MC 152 the damping factor has been much improved by the more advanced autoformers with more sophisticated SS devices and you have a wider choice of speakers. I still prefer the Direct coupled amps. MC 830 for instance, MC 207 MC 255. 257, etc etc. But as for mids and tweeters all I can say its more of what ever floats your boat. A friend of mine has a 152 pushing XRT 28 speakers I use MC 830's with my XRT 28's. . I will admit he has a smoother HF sound where I have a clearer cleaner bass and lower midrange sound. I don't like most speakers with metal diaphragm tweeters. Magico being an exception. So Like I have always said go out and shop and audition speakers carefully. I will say the MK IV Cornwall by Klipsch is a big improvement over previous units. Cornwall has always been my favorite consumer horn loaded speaker, not having heard the Jubilee yet.
My brief answer would be go out and shop and take your favorite recordings.
PS it took me 5 years of searching all over the country to decide for the price a pre-owned pair of XRT 28's used with a MQ 107 is what I would pick to complete my Stereo system. Then I had to wait months to get a great pair from Audio Classics at the price I was willing to pay.
My brief answer would be go out and shop and take your favorite recordings.
PS it took me 5 years of searching all over the country to decide for the price a pre-owned pair of XRT 28's used with a MQ 107 is what I would pick to complete my Stereo system. Then I had to wait months to get a great pair from Audio Classics at the price I was willing to pay.
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I don't think of myself as having a very good ear so I never really expected to be able to hear the differences between various speakers until I auditioned a few pairs. It's amazing how different they sound from pair to pair, given the same amp. And then once settled on speakers I was also surprised to hear differences in how different amps sound with those same speakers. A fringe benefit of my repair work, I listen to a lot of different amps. Some of them just sound good compared to others in my setup. On the bench, with a perfect load, they have a perfectly flat frequency response - which is good. I think the difference is in how the different amps interact with the load of the speaker. Definitely shop around and if you get a chance to audition with your amp, even better.
twiiii said damping factor, that means everyone needs to take a drink!
jek57
Active Member
Alot depends on your listening styles u like warm sounding speakers or more forward sounding speakers? I'm prefer warmer sounding speaker I have Mc152 Mx113 I just bought a pair of Dynaudio emits 30 to replace my Revels Concerta2 F36 little big for my.living room nice speakers but they need room to sounds their best . Between the mx113 and the Mc152 the dynaudios are a prefect match
MAC TED
Lunatic Member
I have a pair of Gershman Avant Gardes connected to a Mac MA7000 integrated. The worst thing I've encountered with this match-up is that I hate to turn it off after hours of listening. I believe when you get to this point of enjoyment, one should use one's money on buying music.
jek57
Active Member
I have the same problem
As one can see in my signature, I've got a bunch of Mc amps and a bunch of speakers. I mix and match all the time, and has been indicated, Klipsch does very well with Mc. But then again, I haven't heard a Mc amp do poorly on any speaker. Mostly always great.
Been listening to a pair of EPI M50 Mighty Mites today with my MC225. Geez, talk about a match made in audio heaven. Perfect.
Been listening to a pair of EPI M50 Mighty Mites today with my MC225. Geez, talk about a match made in audio heaven. Perfect.
