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What amp to pair with a McIntosh C40?

Onebean said:
@c_dk I'm glad you mentioned the dampening factor. I was wondering if the autoformer had an effect on that specification. Although I don't "worship at the alter" of dampening factor, I look at that spec as an indication of the amps ability to control the woofer. Maybe I'm misleading myself with that specification. I always found it odd that PA amps have dampening factors higher than 1000, but don't sound significantly different than a hifi amp with a dampening factor of 100.
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I don't agree with that, its certainly not what I have experienced.
 
kevzep said:
I don't agree with that, its certainly not what I have experienced.
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Please expand on this. My experience is limited to testing a Crown Micro-Tech 600 on my ADS L-910's, and speaking specifically about bass. I was expecting deep tight bass. It sounded nice compared to a some 150 watt amps I had, but it wasn't significantly different.
 
Onebean said:
Please expand on this. My experience is limited to testing a Crown Micro-Tech 600 on my ADS L-910's, and speaking specifically about bass. I was expecting deep tight bass. It sounded nice compared to a some 150 watt amps I had, but it wasn't significantly different.
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I am very very fussy about the low end in my system, so in my quest for the best bass performance, I tried a lot of different amplifiers in my system, my system is active, so my bass amplifier does not drive a passive crossover network as well, the amp is directly coupled to the speaker, and this is very important with regards to damping factor.
I tried McInotsh MC452, 352, 2205, also Carver PM2400, PM1200, QSC Powerlight 1.8 and 4.0, Crown Macro-Tech 3600 and Macro-Tech 5002.
The two amplifiers that drove my subs with proper control and with that nice solid Authority (I'm not talking about volume), was the Macro-Tech 5002 with the 3600 a close second, the worst amp was both the Carvers, the McIntosh amps were average with the 452 being the best of the bunch.
The only real technical advantage I could really attribute this to was damping factor.
Also, the L'Acoustics SB115 subs being a professional series speaker are ported and very rigid, lot of back emf comes off them too....So I found amps with very high damping factors seem to drive my subs extremely well.

Your Microtech is an awful Class D number made by the Crown which is a shadow of its former glory, much like the newer Itech series and the new Macro-Tech which are also class D.....No offence intended, I have tried those amps out, not in my shootout, but when we were prospecting for amplifiers for our PA company..

Also to note about damping factor is that it really seems to have an effect on bass, for example, the MC452 is hands down the best power amplifier I have ever heard, when we are talking full range. But its not the be all and end all when it comes to driving certain subs such as my ones....

This is what I have experienced, people have their own opinions on damping factor and so forth, but there's nothing like actually trying things out and making your own mind up as I have done.
 
@kevzep I checked my Crown amp, and it's a Macro-Tech 600, not a Micro-Tech. I'll have to give it another try once I have a preamp with balanced out. I was using a converter to adapt balanced in to single ended.
 
kevzep said:
I am very very fussy about the low end in my system, so in my quest for the best bass performance, I tried a lot of different amplifiers in my system, my system is active, so my bass amplifier does not drive a passive crossover network as well, the amp is directly coupled to the speaker, and this is very important with regards to damping factor.
I tried McInotsh MC452, 352, 2205, also Carver PM2400, PM1200, QSC Powerlight 1.8 and 4.0, Crown Macro-Tech 3600 and Macro-Tech 5002.
The two amplifiers that drove my subs with proper control and with that nice solid Authority (I'm not talking about volume), was the Macro-Tech 5002 with the 3600 a close second, the worst amp was both the Carvers, the McIntosh amps were average with the 452 being the best of the bunch.
The only real technical advantage I could really attribute this to was damping factor.
Also, the L'Acoustics SB115 subs being a professional series speaker are ported and very rigid, lot of back emf comes off them too....So I found amps with very high damping factors seem to drive my subs extremely well.

Your Microtech is an awful Class D number made by the Crown which is a shadow of its former glory, much like the newer Itech series and the new Macro-Tech which are also class D.....No offence intended, I have tried those amps out, not in my shootout, but when we were prospecting for amplifiers for our PA company..

Also to note about damping factor is that it really seems to have an effect on bass, for example, the MC452 is hands down the best power amplifier I have ever heard, when we are talking full range. But its not the be all and end all when it comes to driving certain subs such as my ones....

This is what I have experienced, people have their own opinions on damping factor and so forth, but there's nothing like actually trying things out and making your own mind up as I have done.
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Where you been man?
 
Like I said else where try a MC 352. Quad balanced lower distortion and much better signal to noise. Plus it drives complex impedances better.
 
damacman said:
Where you been man?
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Busy at work, one of the busiest seasons we have ever had, and then "lockdown" and we now have absolutely no income, touring has stopped, shows have stopped and our industry has come to a rather abrupt halt...
 
kevzep said:
Busy at work, one of the busiest seasons we have ever had, and then "lockdown" and we now have absolutely no income, touring has stopped, shows have stopped and our industry has come to a rather abrupt halt...
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These are crazy times. Be smart and be safe my friend.
 
twiiii said:
Like I said else where try a MC 352. Quad balanced lower distortion and much better signal to noise. Plus it drives complex impedances better.
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I'd say yeah, I suggested such earlier. 352 is newer than any of the 7xxx series. Even the 352 is getting up in age.

There's that old saying. "Pay me now, or pay me later". Doesn't make much sense in my eyes to buy a 40 year old amp, then chuck good dollars just weeks later cause it fell on its ass and now needs a total refurb, Boxing, shipping and all the BS that entails, who needs it!?

Buy something decent and newer, so you at least get a few years before such happens. Life is just too Goddamn short for such headaches.

The big blue Meters are cool, how I know, but there's a lot of great Amps out there that can equal, or stomp preconceptions of what is sonically good.

Bryston will give you a lot of bang for the dollar, and the best warrantee in the business. A brand new 4B Cubed will last you a long time.

That's just one.
 
@markd51 I'm looking hard at MC352 and MC452 models. I need to figure out how to make them fit in my limited rack space. I can only go so high with the rack I'm building, because it sits in front of the TV. I'm going to workshop some ideas in the next few days and see what I come up with.
 
I may be wrong but I think the 452 has more advanced out put transistors. A good friend who use to sell Mac said the high end was clearer and cleaner and the highs didn't become slightly congested like the earlier amps. Personally I thought the 501, 402 and 352 were great amps. My 207's sound great to me also. My favorite amps to audition all Mac speakers were the 1201 or the 1.2 K. It wasn't about power just the consistent quality. I seldom drove the amps past 60 watts peak. Remember its not about quantity is about quality.
 
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