amp decisions

[maseb]

I just purchased klipsch rf3 and I'm in the process of updated my receiver. I have an opportunity to get a pair of McIntosh mono power amplifiers (MC-30's) in good shape for 250 U.S. (brother-in-law). I would need to buy a pre-amp as well. I'm also considering an Outlaw 1050 because of all the positive feedback and reviews that I've read. Any opinions or suggestions on which way to go? If it's the Macs, what would be a good pre-amp to match? Any comments would be appreciated. I should add that I currently have the speakers powered by an older Sony pro-logic receiver and I find the sound rather harsh.

[JohnA]

Is the system for atereo or home theater? I'd pretty much say go for the Macs! You're getting them for a great price. They deserve a great preamp to go with them, on the order of a Mac or maybe Conrad-Johnson, or another great tube preamp.

John

[maseb]

Thanks for the advice John. Although I am using the klipsch as fronts for a home theater setup, I would say I use them primarily for 2 channel music. I don't mind the Sony receiver with the Klipsch for home theater so much; would it be possible to wire my system so I could have the speakers with the Macs and tube pre-amp for music listening and still leave the Sony set up for home theater?

Mark

[JohnA]

If the Sony has Preamp outs you could run from pre out the tape/aux in on a tube preamp and then to the Macs for front channel power. the Macs would always be used even in HT mode.

John

[NOSValves]

maseb

John is right and steering you in the direction I would go. I have a newer Sony DD/DTS reciever and use a Scott tube Amp with my SF-2 KSW-15 Sub and the difference is nothing short of Amazing in Music. I just ran short jumper wires from my Scott to the Sony speaker terminals and only use the Scott for music and either turn the Sony off when listening to Vinyl or on for a turner using the second room preamp outs to my scott and just use the speaker off switch on the sony. This setup works great. The only problem is if you have multiple users they all have to know how to run this setup because having 2 Amps powering your speakers by mistake I'm sure could cause some serious damage somewhere. I'm lucky in the respect that I'm the only user here that would listen to the Tube Amp. So beware of this setup ( me covering my A$$). Oh and my Sony doesn't have multi channel preamp outs to do it John's way which would be much better.

Craig

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HH Scott Tube FM Tuner LT-110B

HH Scott Tube Amp 222C

HH Scott Turn Table P-87

Sony DE-975 AV Receiver

Sony NS-900P DVD

Sony CD 5 DISC C315

Syenrgy SF-2 mains

KSC-C1 Center Channel

KSW-15 Sub

SS-1 Surrounds

Promedia 5.1 for the PC

[Allan Songer]

I've used MC-30's on and off for over 25 years. They keep finding their way back into my main system and at this point it would be tough for me to give them up--I think they're the best sounding MAC vintage amp--if you want tube and cap advise, email me and I'll give you some advice if you want.

Preamp? The ultimate preamp in my experience for these amps has been the C-22 McIntosh, but I've used Scott, Fisher and Marantz units as well.

If you want a great preamp AND a great tuner in an all-in-one pacakage that is a STEAL on the MAC tube-gear market, look for the MX-110 preamp/FM tuner--a MINT one can be had for 5-6 hundred bucks and it really kicks ***--it's a great tuner, has a killer phono section and is a full function preamp in the MAC mode.

[cheese head]

Depends on what you listen to. If you listen to stuff recorded in the studio, the sound is gonna be crisp and clean so a warmer sounding amp, like those macs, would be sweet. especially for the price. If you listen to live music like myself, a b&k 7250 or ST220 (2 ch) would sound nice. you have a pretty warm sounding amp matched with a crispy klipsch horn. now that's tastey.