heritage 5.1 or 7.1 and Mac amps

[tjnif]

Ok, this is my situation. I have 3 pairs of Khorns 2 pair of belles , w/ Trachorns ALK crossovers. In the amp dept I have 2 MC 2102 tube amps and 1 MC 2000 Millenium. My theatre room will be approx. 18 ft wide by 22 ft long. I want to incorporate my speakers for the theatre,now: is this ovekill for the size of the room?? Is 7.1 "Necessary", Is there a big difference in sound? Should I go with the MAC 7 channel SS amp? The front end w/ also serve as my 2 channel stereo. I do not want to sell my speakers to get smaller ones or should I explore the possibilities? Any suggetions and thoughts would be appreciated as I want to do this ONCE! Thanks!

[tjnif]

Anyone...???

[oldbuckster]

With your speakers, I would dare to say, 5.1 would be plenty .................... I have a 7.1 Yamaha, but still only use 5.1 ............ had 6.1, wasn't that impressed with the sound, ........... I can go to 7.1 if I want to, like having that option, but I will stay at 5.1 .............. sometimes for Music DVD's, I shut off the center channel and just use 4.1, but I don't have as fine of a speaker set-up as you .................

[IndyKlipschFan]

I have a17x 30 dedicated HT room + - so were sorta on the same page.

I want to be sure before I comment.

tjnif wrote the following post at 10-24-2007 10:55 AM:

"Ok, this is my situation. I have 3 pairs of Khorns 2 pair of belles , w/ Trachorns ALK crossovers."

Is this 6 k horns...and 4 Belles?

I would not use tube amps for HT.. Not quite the same beast!

Rear

MC207

7-Channel Power Amplifier

7 Channel x 200 Watts into 4 or 8 ohm loudspeakers

Dual Zone Capability

Incorporates the new McIntosh Dynamic Power Manager Circuit

Includes the latest Motorola Power Transistor

Signal to Noise Ratio: 89dB

Rated Power Band: 20Hz to 20kHz

Total Harmonic Distortion 0.005% maximum for 4 or 8 ohm loads.

Quick Facts

The MC207 is designed for use in a 7.1 home theater or in a 5.1 home theater

with the remaining 2 channels available for a second stereo zone.

The MC207 is the first amplifier to employ the newly developed DYNAMIC POWER

MANAGER^TM (DPM^TM) circuit design. This unique McIntosh circuit allows the MC207

to deliver a full 200 watts x 7 channels into either 4 or 8-ohm loudspeakers.

On the rear panel of the MC207 is an impedance selector for 4 or 8-ohms. If the

8-ohm position is chosen and the speakers are 4-ohms, the MC207 will

automatically switch over to the 4-ohm position if the amplifier is driven

hard. This switch adjusts both the output transistor rail voltages as well as

bias level to maintain ultra low distortion. DPM^TM allows the MC207 to be

optimized for whatever speakers are used.

The chassis is mirror polished Stainless Steel as used on the MC402 and other

McIntosh amplifiers. The power transformer and filter capacitors are housed in

traditional McIntosh drawn aluminum cans with a durable powder coat finish. The

5 heat sinks are fully exposed for maximum ventilation.

The MC207 has the traditional McIntosh 9" tall glass faceplate with three

wattmeters for front channel power indication. The meters and front panel are

illuminated with Fiber Optic Light Diffusers and Light Emitting Diodes (LED)

for a beautiful, lifetime appearance. The meter illumination may be switched

off using the front panel control.

Pair the MC207 with the MX135 A/V Control Center for maximum home theater and

multi-zone applications. From any angle, the MC207 is the most attractive

multi-channel McIntosh amp yet that will reward with years of ownership pride.

By all means if you can afford it.. go for the 7 channel amp you may need 2 more channels later... or use 7.1, you have the room to do so IMO.

[Frzninvt]

That S/N Ratio spec at 89db is horrible, an amp that costs as much as that McIntosh should have a S/N at a minimum higher than 100db preferably closer to 120db.

That will show up with speakers that have 104db efficiency for sure!

[tjnif]

So Frzinvt,what do you sugest for an amp?? Also thanks for the responses, I am leaning towars the ss Mac,but like i said i want as muc input as possible and hopefully can do this 1 time. Thanks Guys!

[michael hurd]

For the price of that amp, you could buy 7 of these.....

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=245-640

[michael hurd]

Or, 7 of these:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=245-439

[michael hurd]

If you had 7 amps bridged, you would have 17 kilowatts of available power. ( into single 8 ohm nominal loads.... ) Overkill>? Maybe, but there are all sorts of other uses for that much power.... drop back to 6 amps, run 4 in stereo ( 8 channels ) and 2 in mono ( you could run some killer subwoofers )

[Frzninvt]

I am really liking the looks of that Crown! Sexy, I may try one of those for my mains just to see what the sonics are like on it.

As much as I am really a McIntosh fan, and I love the look of the amps that S/N Ratio is terrible. I would look at the B&K 200.7 or the amp I am running the 7 channel true monoblock Sherbourn 7/2100A it's a monster.

See here:

[Frzninvt]

The insides:

[Frzninvt]

Lastly the front. No frills here, no fancy meters just performance! The LED's are defeatable as well.

I up until recently was running 4 Klipschorn's, a La Scala and Cornwalls. I had Belles in place of the Cornwalls but sold them because I prefer the bass response and smaller width of the Cornwalls. I recently parted with my rear Klipschorns and stepped down to Cornwalls and Heresy's and I am still very pleased with the performance. Having the dual Velodyne Servo 15's helps too. With the speakers you have there are many options. I have tried just about all of them.

[colterphoto1]

Charles- that is a BEAST of a HT amp.

Bill Hendrix has worked out a deal for the Crown XTI series with Full Sail- it's less than $900 for a pair of them including shipping. He's driving Klipschorn Jubilee's with them in biamp mode, utilizing the built in parametric eq.

[Q-Man]

Don't pay any attention to that S/N ratio. It was also a concern of mine before I started buying my McIntosh amps. I called McIntosh, Audio Classics, and my dealer, and asked a bunch of questions before buying. One answer that I liked came from an old timer at Audio Classics. He said what do you think Paul Klipsch used with his K-horns?

Anyway, I use a MC202 for my mains (Klipschorns), another MC202 for my front and rear center channels (Klipschorns). I use an MC206 ( six channel amp) for my 2 LaScala front effect channels, 2 LaScala surrounds, and 2 Klipschorn surrounds. I have a 10.1 set-up. Room 17 x 29.

I'm thinking of selling or trading in the Mc206 for the 207.